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PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRARY 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINHRY 


ppofessop  flenpy  von  Dyke,  D.D.,  IiIi.D. 


sec 


BROADWAY  TABERNACLE,  NEW  YORK, 

Cor.  Broadway  and  i4th  Street. 


SEEMo:tsrs 


PKEACHED   AT   THE 


gtiiiccitioii  J3f  i\}t  §r0iiMi)cij]  ®ciknuitle, 


NEW  YOEK, 
Sunday,  April  24,   1859. 


I, 

THE  PROMINENCE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 
By  Prof.  Edwauds  A.  Park,  D.  D. 

II. 
THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS    THE    TEMPLE 
OF  a  OB. 

By  Richard  S.  Storks,  Jr.,  D.  D. 

III. 
PREACHINO  THE  GOSPEL  THE  GRAND  FUNCTION 
OF  THE  3IINISTER. 

By  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.  D. 


TO  "wnicn  are  added, 

HISTORICAL  SKETCHES   OF   THE   BROADWAY  TABERNACLE  AND  A 
FORMAL  DEDICATION  OF  THE  HOUSE. 


NEW  YORK : 
N.  A.  CALKINS,    348    BEOADWAY. 

1859. 


HISTOEICAL   SKETCH. 


The  original  Broadway  Tabernacle  was  erected  in  1836,  iipou 
a  lot  one  hundred  feet  square  in  the  rear  of  No.  340  Broadway,  with 
an  entrance  from  the  street  at  that  point.  It  was  occupied  at  first 
by  a  free  church,  of  the  Presbyterian  order;  but  in  1840  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  Churcii,  then  newly 
organized  upon  Congregational  principles.  For  twenty-one  years 
this  spacious  edifice  provided  accommodations  for  multitudes  of  young 
men  and  strangers  desiring  to  hear  the  gospel,  and  for  the  great 
convocations  of  Christians  during  the  Anniversary  week,  and  on 
kindred  occasions.  But  the  encroachments  of  business  compelling 
families -to  remove  up  town,  made  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  longer 
to  sustain  a  church  in  that  locality;  and  in  1857  the  Tabernacle  was 
sold,  and  the  last  religious  service  was  held  within  its  walls  on  the 
26th  of  April  in  that  year. 

A  site  was  selected  for  the  new  Tabernacle  at  the  intersection 
of  Broadway,  Sixth  avenue,  and  Thirty-fourth  sti-eet,  nearly  three 
miles  north  of  the  old  location,  and  the  building  was  completed  in 
April,  1859.  It  would  be  difficult  to.  find  in  the 'city  a  more  con- 
spicuous site  for  a  public  edifice.  The  Tabernacle  faces  the  Sixth 
avenue,  which  Broadway  here  crosses  diagonally.  It  is  built  upon 
a  lot  which  measures  100  feet  on  the  avenue  by  150  feet  on  Thirty- 
fourth  street ;  and  the  building  is  89  feet  8  inches  front,  and  150  deep, 
including  the  chapel  in  the  rear,  which  is  under  the  same  roof.  The 
main  audience-room  is  76  feet  wide  b}^  90  feet  in  depth  in  the  clear, 
exclusive  of  the  recess  for  the  pulpit ;  the  entire  length  from  the 
pulpit  screen  to  the  front  wall  is  118  feet. 

In  the  ground-plan  of  the  interior  the  building  presents  a  parallelo- 
gram ;  but  the  roof  is  cruciform,  and  the  elevation  of  the  transepts  gives 


a  pleasing  variety  to  the  exterior  walls  and  buttresses.  On  the  cor- 
ner of  Thirty-fourth  street  and  the  Avenue  is  a  massive  and  finely- 
proportioned  tower,  135  feet  in  height.  The  side  view  presents 
three  tiers  of  windows ;  the  lower  tier  lighting  the  aisles,  the  second 
the  galleries,  and  the  third  forming  the  clear-story  of  the  nave. 
The  variety  in  these  windows  has  a  good  efiect  in  the  external  view 
The  several  heights  of  the  building  outside  are,  32  feet  to  the  top 
of  the  aisle  walls,  64  feet  to  the  top  of  the  nave — the  clear-story 
rising  32  feet  above  the  aisles — and  88  feet  to  the  ridge  of  the  roof. 
The  transept  walls  are  carried  up  to  a  line  with  the  ridge ;  these 
have  a  lower  tier  of  three  windows,  and  a  great  triple-window  above. 
Directly  in  the  rear  of  the  transept  wall,  the  wall  of  the  chapel  rises 
to  the  same  elevation  with  that  of  the  aisles,  and  above  this  again  is 
seen  the  clear-story,  which  here  forms  an  apsis,  in  the  rear  of  the 
pulpit,  over  the  chapel;  The  interior  effect  of  this  is  quite  striking 
— presenting  an  arched  ceiling  150  feet  long,  at  an  elevation  of  nearly 
70  feet  from  the  floor  of  the  church. 

The  style  of  the  building  is  perpendicular  Gothic,  carried  out 
with  a  chaste  and  almost  severe  simplicity,  which  imparts  an  air  of 
grandeur  and  beauty  to  the  whole  structure.  The  interior  effect  is 
rich  and  imposing.  Entering  from  the  Avenue,  one  sees  before  him 
a  nave  90  feet  in  length,  31:  feet  wide,  and  nearly  70  feet  high 
— a  large  church  of  itself.  At  the  extremity  of  this  is  the  pulpit 
recess ;  behind  the  pulpit,  at  an  elevation  of  20  feet,  is  the  choir 
gallery,  containing  the  small  organ  for  choir  accompaniments ;  and 
above  and  beyond  this  is  the  great  organ,  filling  a  large  part  of  the 
space  over  the  social  rooms,  which  are  above  the  lectui-e-room,  in  the 
second  story  of  the  chapel.  Through  the  rich  oak-hued  case  of  the 
organ,  there  are  glimpses  of  the  groined  ceiling  before  described, 
and  the  mellow  tints  of  the  clear-story  windows  above  the  chapel. 
Standing  at  the  door  of  the  nave,  one  is  struck  with  the  perfect  pro- 
portions of  the  house,  the  admirable  simplicity  and  taste  in  its 
details,  and  the  solidity  of  the  whole  structure.  On  either  side  of 
the  nave,  supporting  the  pointed  arches  of  the  clear-story,  are  three 
finely-shaped  pillars  of  cream-colored  stone  from  the  New  Brunswick 
quarries.  Beyond  the  pillars  on  either  side,  is  an  aisle — in  the 
architectural  sense — 32  feet  in  height,  divided  by  a  gallery  which 
extends  the  entire  length  of  the  building.  At  a  distance  of  50  feet 
down  the  nave,  the  transepts  intersect  it  with  arches  70  feet  high 
and  34  feet  wide,  and  heighten  the  beauty  of  the  building  with  their 
lofty  triple  windows.     Both  on  the  ground  floor  and  in  the  gallery 


these  transepts  furnish  some  of  the  most  agreeable  sittings  in  the 
house. 

The  windows  are  of  colored  glass,  so  happily  toned  as  to  subdue 
the  light  without  making  it  sombre,  and  are  free  alike  from  grotesque 
figures  and  gaudy  colors.  The  walls  are  colored  uniformly  in  drab. 
The  pews  are  of  oak,  without  doors,  and  are  finished  with  crimson 
upholstery ;  and  the  pulpit,  the  organ  case,  and  the  galleries  corre- 
spond with  the  oaken  pews.  There  are  312  pews  in  the  house,  212 
on  the  ground  floor.  These  are  arranged  in  three  double-blocks, 
with  an  extra  tier  of  wall-pews  upon  either  side  ;  that  is,  there  are 
eight  rows  of  pews  the  entire  length  of  the  building,  divided  by  four 
aisles.  The  front  gallery,  usually  occupied  by  the  choir  and  organ, 
contains  some  of  the  most  eligible  pews  in  the  house.  It  extends 
back  over  the  vestibule,  to  the  front  wall  of  the  building.  Each 
gallery  contains  five  rows  of  pews  through  its  entire  length.  The 
house  will  seat  comfortably  1,600  persons. 

The  Tabernacle  is  built  of  Little-Falls  (Jersey)  rubble;  the 
dimension-stone  and  the  porches  throughout  are.  of  cream-colored 
New-Brunswick  stone.  The  front  porch,  of  this  stone,  is  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  carved  Gothic.  The  outer  doors  are  of  solid  oak.  There 
are  ample  facilities  for  ingress  and  egress. 

The  lecture-room,  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  main  audience-room, 
is  28  feet  by  85  in  the  clear,  and  will  seat  nearly  500  per- 
sons. This  is  used  also  as  the  principal  Sabbath  School  room,  the 
seats  being  fitted  with  reversible  backs.  Under  this  is  a  finished 
basement-room,  with  a  good  entrance  from  Thirty-fourth  street ;  and 
over  it  is  a  fine  suite  of  rooms  for  Bible  classes,  and  parlors  for  social 
gatherings.     Here  is  the  home  of  the  church. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  main  building,  at  the  angle  formed  with 
it  by  the  rear  wall  of  the  lecture-room,  is  a  neat  two  story  edifice  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  pastor.  On  the  first  floor  is  a  reception- 
room,  which  may  also  be  used  for  inquiry  meetings  and  for  meetings 
of  church  committees.  This  is  fitted  up  with  a  wardrobe  and  a 
fire-proof  safe.  It  communicates  with  the  lecture-room,  and  also 
with  the  pulpit  of  the  church,  through  a  passage-way  8  feet  by  16. 
This  passage  is  lighted  from  above,  and  is  furnished  with  Croton 
water,  and  gas.  In  the  second  story  is  the  study,  a  beautiful  room, 
well  lighted  and  ventilated,  with  ample  book-shelves  and  closets ; 
adjoining  this,  over  the  passage-way  just  mentioned,  is  a  library, 
neatly  fitted  up  with  book- cases,  closets,  and  drawers,  and  over  this 


6 


a  gallery  for  maps  and  pictures.  All  these  apartments  are  for  the 
pastor's  private  use. 

The  architect  of  the  tabernacle  was  Mr.  Leopold  Eidlitz.  The 
building  was  erected  by  Mr.  Marc  Eidlitz,  mason,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Wilson,  carpenter.  It  was  painted  by  Mr.  L.  H.  Cohn  ;  the  glass 
was  from  the  establishment  of  Mr.  Henry  Sharp  ;  the  gas  fixtures 
from  Haughwout  &  Co. ;  and  the  organ  from  the  factory  of  Mr.  R. 
M.  Ferris. 

The  house  was  opened  for  public  worship  on  Sabbath,  April  24, 
1859.  At  the  morning  service,  after  an  introductory  anthem  by  the 
choir,  appropriate  selections  of  Scripture  were  read,  and  prayer 
was  offered  by  Rev.  Milton  Badger,  D.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society.  The  following  hymn  was  then  sung  by  the 
whole  congregation : — 

0  Thou,  wliose  own  vast  temple  stands, 

Built  over  earth  and  sea  ; 
Accept  the  walls  that  human  hands 

Have  raised  to  worship  thee  ! 

Lord,  from  thine  inmost  glory  send, 

Within  these  courts  to  'bide, 
The  peace  that  dwelleth  without  end. 

Serenely  hy  thy  side. 

May  erring  minds  that  worship  here 

Be  taught  the  better  way ; 
And  they  who  mourn,  and  they  who  fear, 

Be  strengthened  as  they  pray. 

May  faith  grow  firm,  and  love  grow  warm. 

And  pure  devotion  rise — 
While  round  these  hallowed  walls,  the  storm 

Of  earth-born  passion  dies. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Edwards  A.  Park,  D.  D., 
Professor  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  after  which  a  brief  his- 
torical statement  was  made  by  the  Pastor,  accompanied  with  the 
formal  dedication  of  the  house  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  The 
prayer  of  dedication  was  offered  by  the  Pastor  ;  after  which  an  an- 
them, composed  by  Mr.  William  B.  Bradbury,  for  the  following 
words  arranged  by  the  Pastor  for  the  occasion,  was  sung  by  a  select 
choir,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Bradbury  : — 


Oliorus. — Arise,  O  Lord,  into  tliy  rest,  thou  and  the  ark  of  thy  strength !  Thou, 
that  dwellest  between  the  cherubims,  shine  forth ! 

Chant  Quartette. — Behold,  the  IMost  High  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands'. 
Heaven  is  my  throne,  and  earth  is  my  footstool.  What  house  will  ye 
build  for  me,  saith  the  Lord,  or  what  is  the  place  of  my  rest  ? 

Alto  Solo. — I  will  not  give  sleep  to  mine  eyes  nor  slumber  to  mine  eyelids,  until  I 
find  out  a  place  for  the  Lord — a  habitation  for  the  God  of  Jacob. 

Chorus. — We  will  go  into  his  tabernacles.     We  will  worship  at  his  footstool. 

Quartette. — God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him,  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth. 

Solo  Soprano,  repeated  in  Tenor. — 0  worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of  holiness. 

Tenor  Solo. — Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  thy  house  ;  tliey  will  be  still  praisino- 
thee. 


£a.ts  Solo. — Tliis  is  my  rest,  here  will  I  dwell ;  with  Chorua — Arise,  0  Lord,  &c. 

Final  Chorus. — Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end. — 
Amen. 

The  service  was  concluded  with  the  Doxology  and  Benediction. 

In  the  afternoon,  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs,  Jr.,  D.  D.,  of  Brooklyn, 
preached  from  2  Cor.  vi.  16.  In  the  evening,  the  pastor,  Rev. 
Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  preached  from  1  Cor.  i.  17,  18. 


THE  PEOMINENCE  OF  THE  ATONEMEl^fT. 


EEV.   EDWAKDS   A.    PAKK,    D.D., 

PEOFESSOP.    IN   ANDOVEP.   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINAEY. 


SERMON 


For  I  determined  not  to  hnow  any  thing  amony  you.,  save  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified. — 1  Corintiuans,  ii.  2. 

Should  the  apostle,  who  penned  this  eloquent  ex- 
pression, resume  his  ministry  on  earth,  and  should  he 
deign  to  hold  converse  with  us  on  the  principles  of  his 
high  calling,  and  should  he  repeat  his  strong  words : 
I  am  now,  as  of  old,  determined  not  to  know  any  thing 
among  you  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified ;  some 
of  us  would  feel  an  impulse  to  ask  him : 

"  Can  your  words  mean  what  they  appear  to  imply  ? 
You  are  learned  in  Rabbinical  literature :  you  have 
read  the  Grecian  poets,  and  even  quoted  from  Aratus : 
you  have  examined  the  statuary  of  Greece,  and  have 
made  a  permanent  record  of  an  inscription  upon  an 
altar  in  ancient  Athens;  you  have  reasoned  on  t  .e 
principles  of  Aristotle  from  effect  to  cause,  and  have 
taken  rank  with  the  philosophers,  as  well  as  orators  of 
the  world  ;  and  now,  you  seem  to  utter  your  determina- 
tion to  abandon  all  knowledge  save  that  which  con- 
cerns the  Jew  who  was  crucified.  You  once  said 
that  you  had  rather  speak  five  words  with  the  under- 
standing, than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown 
tongue  ;  and  here,  lest  the  pithy  language  of  this  text 
should  fail  of  being  truly  apprehended,  we  desire  to 
learn  its  precise  meaning  in  three  particulars. 


12  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

"In  the  first  place,  do  you  intend  to  assert  that 
our  knowledge  is  controlled  by  our  vvill  ?  You  deter- 
mined not  to  know  any  thing  save  one  ?  Can  you  by 
mere  choice  expel  all  but  one  of  your  old  ideas,  and 
make  your  mind  like  a  chart  of  white  paper  in  refer- 
ence to  the  va-t  majority  of  your  familiar  subjects  of 
thought  ?" 

'  I  am  ready  to  concede,'  is  the  reply,  '  that  much 
of  our  knowledge  is  involuntary  ;  still  a  part  of  it  is 
dependent  on  our  will.  In  some  degree,  at  some 
times,  we  may  attend  to  a  theme  or  not  attend  to  it,  as 
we  choose,  and  thus  our  choice  may  influence  our  be- 
lief, and  thus  are  we  responsible,  in  a  certain  measure, 
for  our  knowledge.  Besides,  the  word,  "know,"  is 
used  by  us  Hebraistic  writers  to  include  not  only  a 
mental  apprehension,  but  also  a  moral  feeling.  When 
we  know  Christ,  we  feel  a  hearty  complacence  in  him. 
Again,  to  "know"  often  signifies  to  manifest^  as  well 
as  to  possess^  both  knowledge  and  love.  We  do  not 
know  an  old  acquaintance  when  we  of  set  purpose 
withliold  all  public  recognition  of  him,  and  act  out- 
wardly as  if  we  were  inwardly  ignorant  of  his  being. 
But  I,  Paul,  say  to  you,  as  I  said  to  the  Corinthians, 
that  I  shall  make  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  nothing 
but  the  atonement  of  Christ,  the  main  theme  of  my 
regard,  of  my  loving  regard,  and  such  loving  regard 
as  is  openly  avowed.' 

Thus  our  first  query  is  answered ;  but  there  is  a 
second  inquiry  which  some  of  us  would  propose  to  the 
apostle,  were  he  uttering  to  us  'personally  the  words 
which  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians.     It  is  this  : 

"  Should  a  Christian  minister  out  of  the  pulpit,  as 
well  as  in  the  pulpit,  know  nothing  save  the  crucified 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THK    ATONEMENT.  13 

one  ?  Did  you  not  know  how  to  sustain  yourself  by 
the  manufacture  of  tents ;  and  did  you  not  say  to 
the  circle  of  elders  at  Ephesus  :  These  hands  have 
ministered  to  my  necessities!  Did  you  not  dispute 
with  the  Roman  sergeants — plead  your  cause  before 
the  Roman  courts?  Must  not  every  minister  cease  for 
a  time  to  converse  on  the  work  of  Jesus,  and  must  he 
not  think  of  providing  for  his  own  household,  lest  he 
become  worse  than  an  infidel  ?  " 

'  I  am  willing  to  admit,'  is  the  reply,  '  that  the 
pul})it  is  the  place  where  the  minister  should  speak  of 
Christ  with  more  uniform  distinctness  than  in  other 
places:    but   there    are  no    places,   and  no   times,  in 
which  he  should  fail  to  manifest,  more  or  less  obviously, 
his  interest  in  his  Redeemer.     Wherever  he  goes,  he 
has  a  pulpit.     Whether  he  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever 
he  do,  he  must  do  all  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
highest  glory  of  God  is  Christ,  and  the  highest  honor 
of  Christ  is  in  Him  crucified.     A  minister  must  always 
respect  the  proprieties  of  life ;  in  honoring  them  he 
knoivs  that  appropriate  model  man,  who,  rising  from 
the  tomb,  wrapped  up  the  napkin  that  was  about  His 
head,  and  laid  it  in  a  place  by  itself.     Now  the  pro- 
prieties of  life  do  require  a  minister  to  speak  in  the 
pulpit  on  themes  more  plainly  and  more  easily  con- 
nected with  the  atonement,  than  are  various  themes  on 
whioh  he  must  speak  in  the  market-place  or  in  the 
schools.     But  all  subjects  on  which  he  m<ay  discourse 
do  lead,  sooner  or  later,  more  or  less  obviously  and 
easily,  to  the  great  work  of  Jesus :  and  he  should  con- 
verse on  them  with  the  intent  of  seizing  every  hint 
they  give  him,  following  out  every  line  to  which  they 
point  him,  in  the  direction  of  the  Cross.     I  have  been 
in  many  synagogues,  and  in  the  temple,  and  on  Mars' 


14  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

Hill,  and  on  a  Mediterranean  ship-deck,  and  once  was 
I  hurried  along  in  a  night-ride  from  Jerusalem  to 
Csesarea  with  four  hundred  and  seventy  soldiers,  horse- 
men and  spearmen.  I  have  resided  at  leisure  with  my 
arm  chained  to  a  Roman  guard  in  a  prison  at  the  Cap- 
ital of  the  Roman  Empire ;  but  in  all  such  places  I 
have  felt,  and  everywhere  I  do  feel  bound  to  speak  out, 
and  to  act  out,  all  the  interest  which  the  fitnesses  of 
the  occasion  admit,  in  the  atonement  of  Jesus ;  and  not 
to  manifest,  and  not  to  feel  any  interest  in  any  theme 
which  may  lessen  my  regard  for  this — the  chiefest 
among  ten  thousand! ' 

But  there  is  a  third  question  which  some  of  us 
would  propose  to  the  apostle,  were  he  to  speak  in  our 
hearing  the  words  of  the  text : 

"  Should  every  man^  as  well  as  every  minister, 
cherish  and  exhibit  no  interest  in  anything  but  Christ? 
Should  a  sailor  at  the  mast-head,  a  surgeon  in  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  clavicle,  a  warrior  in  the  critical  mo- 
ment of  the  last  charge,  look  at  nothing,  and  hear  of 
nothing  but  the  Cross  ?  Must  not  every  one  conduct 
businesses,  and  sustain  cares  which  draw  his  mind  away 
from  the  atonement  ?  " 

'  I  am  ready  to  grant,'  is  the  reply,  '  that  some 
duties  are  less  plainly  and  less  intimately  connected 
than  others  with  the  work  of  Jesus;  but  all  of  them 
are  connected  with  it  in  some  degree,  and  this  con- 
nection may  be  seen  by  all  who  choose  to  gain  the 
fitting  insight.  The  great  principle  of  duty  belong- 
ing to  the  minister  in  the  jDulpit,  belongs  to  him  every- 
where ;  and  the  great  principle  of  duty  belonging  to 
the  minister,  belongs  to  every  man,  woman,  and  child. 
There  is  not  one  religion  for  the  man  when  he  is  in  the 


THE  PROMINENCE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT.       15 

temple,  and  another  religion  for  the  man  when  lie  is  in 
the  parlor  or  in  the  street.  There  is  not  one  law  for 
the  ordained  pastor,  and  another  law  for  the  trades- 
man or  the  mechanic.  The  same  law  and  no  different 
one ;  the  same  religion  and  no  different  one,  are  the 
law  and  the  religion  for  apostles,  and  publicans,  and 
prophets,  and  taxgatherers,  and  patriarchs,  and  children, 
and  nobles,  and  beggars.  Every  man  is  bidden  to  re- 
fuse every  thing,  if  it  be  the  nearest  friend,  who  inter- 
feres with  the  claims  of  the  Messiah ;  and  therefore  every 
man,  layman  as  well  as  clergyman,  must  keep  his  eye 
fixed  primarily  upon  the  cross.  He  may  see  other 
things  within  the  range  of  that  cross,  but  he  must  keep 
the  cross  directly  at  the  angle  of  his  vision,  and  allow 
nothing  else,  when  placed  side  by  side  with  the  tree 
on  Calvary,  to  allure  his  eye  away  from  that  central, 
engrossing  object.' 

Here  then  is  our  third  question  answered ;  and  in 
these  three  replies  to  these  three  queries,  we  perceive 
the  meaning  of  our  text  to  be  :  that  not  the  preacher 
only,  but  the  hearer  likewise,  not  on  the  first  day  only, 
but  on  every  day  likewise,  not  in  the  religious  as- 
sembly only,  but  in  all  assemblies,  and  in  all  solitudes 
likewise,  must  every  man  adopt  the  rule,  to  give  his 
voluntary,  his  loving,  his  secret  and  open  regard  to 
nothing  so  much  as  to  the  character  and  work  of  his 
Redeemer. 

Having  inquired  into  the  meaning  of  the  apostle's 
words,  let  us  proceed,  in  the  next  place,  to  inquire  into 
the  importance  of  making  the  atonement  of  Christ  the 
only  great  object  of  our  thought,  speech,  and  action. 

And  here,  did  we  hold  a  personal  interview  with 
the  author  of  our  text,  we  should  be  prompted  to  put 


16  THE    PROJIINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

three  additional  queries  before  liim.     Our  first  inquiry 
would  be  : 

"  Is  not  your  theme  too  contracted?  It  is  well  to 
know  Christ,  but  in  all  the  varying  scenes  of  life,  is  it 
well  not  to  know  any  thing  else.  Will  not  the  pulpit 
become  wearisome  if,  spring  and  autumn,  summer  and 
winter,  it  confine  itself  to  a  single  topic  ?  We  have 
known  men  preach  themselves  out  by  incessant  repeti- 
tions of  the  scene  at  Calvary, — a  scene  thrilling  in  itself, 
and  on  that  very  account  not  bearing  to  be  presented  in 
its  details,  every  sabbath  day.  How  much  less  will  the 
varying  sensibilities  of  the  soul  endure  the  reiteration 
of  this  tragic  tale  every  day  and  at  every  interview  ! 
Such  extreme  familiarity  induces  irreverence.  The 
Bible  is  not  confined  to  this  theme.  It  is  rich  in  ec- 
clesiastical history,  political  history,  ethical  rules, 
metaphysical  discussion,  comprehensive  theology.  It 
contains  one  book  of  ten  chapters  which  has  not  a 
single  allusion  to  God,  and  several  books  which  do  not 
mention  Christ ;  why  then  do  you  shut  us  up  to  a 
doctrine  which  will  circumscribe  the  mind  of  good 
men,  and  result  in  making  their  conversation  insipid  ?" 

'  Contracted  ! ' — this  is  the  reply, — '  and  do  you 
consider  this  topic  a  limited  one,  whose  height,  depth, 
length,  breadth,  no  finite  mind  can  measure  ?  Of  what 
would  you  speak  ?  ' 

"  We  would  speak  of  the  divine  existence." 

'But  Christ  is  the  "I  am.'" 

"We  would  speak  of  the  Divine  attributes." 

'  But  Christ  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega ;  He  search- 
eth  the  reins  and  trieth  the  hearts  of  men  ;  He  is  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever;  full  of  grace 
and  truth ;  to  Him  belong  wisdom  and  power  and 
glory  and  honor ;  of  His  dominion  is  no  end.  Of 
what  then  would  you  speak  ?  ' 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  17 

"  We  would  speak  of  the  Divine  sovereignty." 

'  But  Christ  taught  us  to  say  :  Even  so  Father,  for 
so  it  seemed  good  in  Tiiy  sight — and  He  and  His 
Father  are  one.' 

"  We  would  converse  on  the  Divine  decrees." 

'  But  all  things  are  planned  for  His  praise  who 
was  in  Christ,  and  in  luliom  Christ  was  at  the  begin- 
ning.' 

"  We  would  discourse  on  electing  lova" 

'But  the  saints  are  elect  in  Christ  Jesus.' 

"  We  would  utter  many  words  on  the  creation  of 
men  and  angels." 

'Now  by  our  Redeemer  were  all  things  created 
that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  the  earth,  visible 
and  invisible.' 

"We  would  converse  on  the  preservation  of  what 
has  been  created." 

'  Now  Christ  upholdeth  all  things  by  the  word  of 
His  power.  What  would  you  have,  then,  for  your 
theme  ? ' 

"  We  would  take  the  flowers  of  the  field  for  our 
theme." 

'  But  they  are  the  delight,  as  well  as  the  contriv- 
ance of  the  Redeemer.' 

"  We  would  take  for  our  theme  the  globes  in 
space." 

'  But  they  are  the  work  of  His  fingers.' 

"  Then  we  would  take  the  very  winds  of  heaven 
for  our  theme,  lawless  and  erratic  as  they  are." 

'  But  Jesus  taught  us  to  comment  upon  these  as 
an  illustration  of  his  truth ;  his  poetic  mind  gave  us 
the  conception  that  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  chooseth 
to  blow,  and  we  look  on,  wondering  whence  it  cometh, 
and  whither  it  goeth ;   knowing  only  that  it  is   the 


18  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

breatli  of  the  Wonderful  Counsellor,  who  arouseth  it  as 
he  listeth,  or  saith,  Peace,  be  still.  What  else  then  do 
you  prefer  for  your  topic  of  conversation  ? ' 

"  We  prefer  the  laws  of  nature  for  our  topic." 
'But   in    them    the    Father   worketh   and    Christ 
worketh  equally.' 

"  If  it  be  so,  we  will  select  the  fine  and  useful  arts 
for  our  subject." 

'  But  all  julie  materials  of  these  arts,  and  all  the  laws 
which  compact  them,  and  all  the  ingenuity  which  ar- 
ranges them  are  of  his  architectonic  plan.  He  is  the 
guide  of  the  sculptor,  painter,  musician,  poet.  He  is 
the  contriver  of  all  the  graces  which  we  in  our  idolatry 
ascribe  to  the  human  discoverer,  as  if  man  had  origi- 
nally invented  them.  The  history  of  the  arts  is  the 
history  of  Christ's  government  on  earth.  Will  you 
propose,  then,  some  other  theme  for  your  remark.' 
"  Do  let  us  converse  on  the  moral  law." 
'  You  may ;  but  Christ  gave  this  law  and  came  to 
magnify  it' 

"  Then  let  us  comment  on  the  ceremonial  law." 
'  You   may ;   but  all  its  types   are   prophecies  of 
Jesus.' 

"  Then  we  will  expatiate  on  virtue  in  the  general." 
'  Do  so  ;  but  Christ  is  the  first  exemplar,  the  bright- 
est representative  of  all  abstract  goodness,  of  all  your 
virtue  in  the  general.' 

"  Then  we  will  take  up  ethical  maxims." 
'  Take  them  up ;  but  they  are  embodied  in  him 
who  is  the  way,  the  truth,  the  life.' 

"  We  will  resort  then  to  human  responsibility  for 
our  subject  of  discourse." 

'  But  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat 
of  that  fair-minded  arbiter  who  is  man  as  well  as  God.' 
"  May  we  not  speak  of  eternal  blessedness  ?  " 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  19 

'Yes;  but  it  is  Christ  who  welcomes  his  chosen 
into  life.' 

"  Shall  we  not  converse,  then,  on  endless  misery  ?" 

'  Yes ;  but  it  is  Christ  who  will  proclaim  :  Depart 
ye  cursed.' 

"The  human  body; — we  would  utter  some  words 
on  that." 

'  But  your  present  body  is  the  image  of  what  your 
Lord  wore  once,  and  the  body  that  you  will  have,  if  you 
die  in  the  faith,  is  the  image  of  what  your  Lord  wears 
now  ; — the  image  of  the  body  slain  for  our  offences  and 
raised  again  for  our  justification.  And  have  you  still 
a  favorite  theme  which  you  have  not  suggested?' 

"  The  pleasures  of  life  are  our  favorite  theme." 

'  Yes,  and  Jesus  provided  them  and  graced  them  at 
Cana.' 

"  The  duties  of  the  household  are  our  favorite 
theme." 

'  Yes,  and  Jesus  has  prescribed  them  and  disci- 
plines you  by  them,  and  will  judge  you  for  your  man- 
ner of  regarding  them.  What  would  you  have,  then, 
what  can  you  think  of  for  your  choice  topic  of  dis- 
course ?' 

"  We  love  to  talk  of  our  brethren  in  the  faith." 

'  But  they  are  indices  of  Christ,  and  he  is  repre- 
sented by  them.' 

"  We  choose  to  converse  on  our  Redeemer's  indi- 
gent, imprisoned,  diseased,  agonized  followers." 

'  And  he  is  an  hungered,  athirst,  penniless,  afflicted 
in  them,  and  whatsoever  we  do  to  one  of  them  we 
do  to  him,  and  what  we  say  of  one  of  them  we  say  of 
him.' 

"  May  we  speak  in  the  pulpit  of  slaves?" 

'  Of  slaves !  Can  you  not  speak  of  Medes  and  Par- 
thians,  Indians  and  Arabians  ?     Why  not  then  of  Afri- 


20  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

cans  ?  Have  they,  or  have  they  not  immortal  souls  ? 
Was  Jesus,  or  was  he  not  crucified  for  them  ?  Was  he 
ashamed  of  the  lowly  and  the  down-trodden,  and  those 
who  have  become  the  reproach  of  men  and  the  despised 
of  the  people  ?  You  may  speak  of  all  for  whom  Christ 
died ;  as  all  men,  bond  or  free,  and  all  things,  globes 
or  atoms,  suggest  thoughts  leading  in  a  right  line  or  in 
a  curved  line  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  All  things  being 
thus  nearly  or  remotely  suggestive  of  the  atonement, 
are  for  your  sakes,  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas, 
or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or 
things  to  come;  all  are  yours,  for  your  thoughts,  for 
your  words.  If  things  pertain  to  the  divine  essence, 
the  whole  of  that  is  the  essence  of  Jesus  ;  if  they  pertain 
to  the  divine  relations,  all  of  them  are  the  relations  of 
Jesus ;  if  they  pertain  to  the  noblest  and  bri2:htest  fea- 
tures of  seraphs,  all  the  angels  of  God  bow  down  before 
Jesus ;  if  they  pertain  to  the  minutest  changes  of  human 
life,  in  all  our  vicissitudes  Jesus  keeps  up  his  brother- 
hood with  us ;  if  they  pertain  to  the  vilest  and  darkest 
spot  of  our  depravity,  they  pertain  to  Jesus, — for  to 
speak  alight  of  sin  is  to  be  determined  to  speak  of 
Christ  and  of  him  crucified  for  sin. 

'  And  is  this  the  doctrine  which  men  call  a  con- 
tracted one  ?  Narrow  !  The  very  suspicion  of  its 
being  narrow  has  now  suggested  the  first  reason  why 
you  should  place  it  and  keep  it  as  the  crown  of  all  your 
words  and  deeds : — it  is  so  large,  so  rich,  so  boundless, 
that  you  need  nothing  which  excludes  it.  And  there- 
fore,' continues  the  Apostle,  '  I  mean  to  know  and  to 
love  nothing,  and  to  make  it  manifest  that  I  care  for 
nothing,  in  comparison  with,  and  disconnected  from, 
the  God-man,  as  he  developes  all  his  attributes  and  all 
his  relations  on  the  cross.' 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  21 

But  were  the  author  of  these  laconic  words  in  a 
familiar  conference  with  us,  we  might  be  tempted  to 
address  to  him  a  second  inquiry : 

"  Is  not  your  theme  too  Large  ?  At  first  we  deemed 
it  too  small,  but  now  it  swells  out  before  us  into  such 
collossal  dimensions  that  we  change  our  ground,  and 
ask  :  Can  the  narrow  mind  of  man  take  in  this  multi- 
plicity of  relations,  comprehended  in  both  the  natures, 
and  in  the  redemptive,  as  well  as  all  the  other  works 
of  Christ  ?  Do  not  our  frail  powers  need  one  day  as  a 
day  of  rest,  and  one  place  as  a  sanctuary  of  repose, 
from  every  thought  less  tender  than  that  of  the  atoning 
death  itself?  Must  we  not  call  in  our  minds  from 
Christ  and  him  crucified,  so  as  to  concentrate  all  our 
emotions  on  the  simple  fact  of  Christ  crucified  ?" 

'  Too  large  a  theme  !' — this  is  the  reply, — '  it  is  a 
large  theme,  too  large  to  be  fully  comprehended  by 
finite  intellio:ences.  Men  have  dreamed  of  exhausting- 
the  atonement,  by  defining  it  to  be  a  plan  for  removing 
the  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  our  pardon. 
It  is  too  large  for  that  definition,  as  the  atonement  also 
persuades  the  Most  High  to  forgive  us.  Then  men 
have  thought  to  mark  it  round  about  by  saying  that  it 
is  a  scheme  for  inducing  God  to  interpose  in  our  aid. 
But  the  atonement  is  too  large  for  that  defining  clause, 
as  it  also  presents  motives  to  man  for  accepting  the 
interposition  of  God.  Then  some  have  thought  to  de- 
fine it  exactly^  by  saying  that  the  atonement  is  both  an 
appeal  to  the  Law-giver  and  also  an  appeal  to  the  sin- 
ner. Too  large  still  is  the  atonement  for  that  explana- 
tion. It  is  an  appeal  to  both  God  and  man,  but  it  is 
more.  It  is  an  appeal  to  tlie  universe,  and  is  as  many- 
sided, .as  the  universe  itself  is  to  be  variously  affected. 
Can  we  by  searching  find  out  the  whole  of  atoning 


22  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

love  ?  It  is  the  love  of  him  who  stretched  out  his 
arms  on  the  fatal  wood,  and  pointed  to  the  right  hand 
and  to  the  left  hand,  and  raised  his  eyes  upward,  and 
cast  them  downward,  and  thus  all  things  above  and 
below,  and  on  either  side,  he  embraced  in  his  compre- 
hensive love.  It  is  a  large  theme,  but  not  too  large  to 
operate  as  a  motive  upon  us.  The  immeasurable  reach 
of  a  motive  is  the  hiding  of  its  power.  The  mind  of 
man  is  itself  expansive,  and  requires  and  will  have 
something  immense  and  infinite  of  truth  or  error,  either 
overpowering  it  for  good  or  overmastering  it  for  evil. 
The  atonement  is  a  great  theme,  but  not  too  great  ; 
and  for  this  additional  reason :  Its  greatness  lies,  in 
part,  in  its  reducing  all  other  doctrines  to  a  unity,  its 
arranging  them  around  itself  in  an  order  which  makes 
them  all  easily  understood.  We  know  in  other  things 
the  power  of  unity  amid  variety.  We  know  how 
simple  the  geography  of  a  land  becomes  by  remember- 
ing that  its  rivers,  although  meandering  in  unnumbered 
circuits  around  the  hills  and  through  the  vales,  yet 
pursue  one  main  direction  from  one  mountain  to  one 
sea.  Now  all  the  truths  of  God  flow  into  the  atone- 
ment. They  are  understood  by  means  of  it,  because 
their  tendencies  are  toward  it ;  and  it  is  understood  by 
means  of  them,  because  it  receives  and  comprehends 
them. 

'  Consider  more  fully  the  first  clause  of  this  sentence ; 
all  other  truths  are  understood  by  means  of  the  atone- 
ment. It  gives  to  them  all  a  unity  by  illustrating  them 
all.  Other  truths  are  not  so  much  independent  themes, 
as  they  are  branches  growing  up  or  side-wise  out  of 
this  one  root,  and  they  need  this  single  theme  in  or 
der  that  their  relations  may  be  rightly  understood. 
What,  for  example,  can  we  know  in  its  most  important 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  23 

bearings,  unless  we  know  the  history  and  office  of  our 
Redeemer  ?  Begin  from  what  point  we  may  to  ex- 
amine the  uses  of  things,  we  can  never  measure  their 
full  utility  until  we  view  them  from  the  Cross.  The 
trees  bud  and  blossom.  Why  ?  To  bear  fruit  for  the 
sustenance  of  the  human  body.  But  is  this  an  ulti- 
mate object?  The  nourishment  of  the  body  favors 
the  growth  of  the  mind.  But  is  the  human  mind  an 
end  worthy  of  all  the  contrivances  in  nature  ?  Does 
the  sun,  with  all  its  retinue  of  stars,  pursue  its  daily 
course,  with  no  aim  ulterior  to  man's  welfare?  Do  we 
adopt  a  Ptolemaic  theory  in  morals,  that  man  is  the 
centre  of  the  system,  and  other  worlds  revolve  around 
him  ?  All  thius^s  were  made  for  God,  as  the  Beino^  in 
whom  they  all  terminate.  Do  they  exist  for  elucidating 
his  power?  This  is  not  his  chief  attribute.  His  knowl- 
edge ?  There  is  a  nobler  perfection  than  omniscience. 
His  love?  But  there  is  one  virtue  imbedded  as  a  gem 
in  his  love,  and  his  love  is  but  a  shining  casket  for  this 
pearl  of  infinite  price.  This  pearl  is  grace.  This  is  the 
central  ornament  of  the  character  of  Jehovah.  But  there 
is  no  grace  in  Jehovah  save  as  it  beams  forth  in  Christ ; 
not  in  Christ,  as  a  mere  Divinity,  nor  in  Christ  as  a 
mere  spotless  humanity,  but  in  the  two  united,  and  in 
that  God-man  crucified.  All  things  were  made  by 
him  and  for  him,  rising  from  the  cross  to  the  throne. 
Without  reference  to  him  in  his  atoning  love,  has  noth- 
ing been  made  that  was  made  in  this  world.  The  star 
in  the  East  led  wise  men  once  to  the  manger  where  the 
Redeemer  lay ;  and  all  the  stars  of  heaven  lead  wise 
men  noio  to  him  who  has  risen  above  the  stars,  and 
whose  glory  illumines  them  all.  He  is  termed  the  sun 
of  righteousness ;  and,  as  the  material  sun  binds  all 
the  planets  around  it  in  an  intelligible  order,  so  does 


24  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

Christ  shine  over,  and  under,  and  into,  and  through  all 
other  objects,  attract  them  all  to  himself,  marshal  them 
all  into  one  clear  and  grand  array,  showing  them  all 
to  be  his  works,  all  suggestive  of  our  duty,  our  sin, 
our  need  of  atonement,  our  dependence  on  the  one 
God,  and  the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 

'  The  first  clause  of  ray  sentence  was,  All  other 
truths  are  understood  by  means  of  the  atonement. 
Consider  next  the  second  clause  :  The  atonement  is 
understood  by  means  of  other  truths.  It  crystallizes 
them  around  itself,  and  reduces  them  into  a  system, 
not  only  because  it  explains  them,  but  also  because  it 
makes  them  explain  it.  It  is  not  too  large  a  theme,  for 
all  the  sciences  and  the  arts  bring  their  contributions 
to  make  it  orderly  and  plain.  Our  text  is  a  simple 
one,  because  its  words  are  interpreted  by  a  thousand 
facts  shining  upon  it,  and  making  themselves  and  it 
luminous  in  their  radiations  around  and  over  it.  Listen 
again  to  its  suggestive  words : 

"For  I  determined  not  to  know  any  thing  among 
you  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified." 

'Now,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  plain  term, 
"Christ?"  It  means  a  "king."  But  how  can  we  ap- 
preciate the  king,  unless  we  learn  the  nature  of  the 
beings  over  whom  he  rules  ?  He  reigns  over  the 
heavens ;  therefore  we  investigate  the  heavens.  The 
whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory ;  therefore  we  study  the 
earth.  He  is  the  Lord  over  the  angels ;  when  we  re- 
flect on  them,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  in  his  regal 
state.  He  is  the  King  of  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles. 
When  we  meditate  on  men,  we  enjoy  a  glance  at  him 
who  was  born  for  this  end,  that  he  might  have  domin- 
ion over  our  race.  When  we  contemplate  the  material 
worlds,  all  the  vastness  and  the  grandeur  included  in 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE   ATONEMENT.  25 

tliem ;  the  sphere  of  mind,  all  the  refinement  and  energy 
involved  in  it,  we  are  overpowered  by  the  reality,  sur- 
passing fable,  that  he  who  superintends  all  the  move- 
ments of  matter  and  first  spake  it  into  being,  and  once 
framed,  as  he  now  governs,  the  souls  of  his  creatures, 
he  is  the  King  who  atoned  for  us  ;  and  the  more 
we  know  of  the  stars  in  their  courses,  and  of  the  spirit 
in  its  mysteries,  so  much  the  deeper  is  our  awe  in 
view  of  the  condescending  pity  which  moved  their 
Creator  to  become  one  with  a  lowly  creature  acquaint- 
ed with  grief  for  you  and  me.  So  much  is  involved 
in  the  word,  "Christ." 

'  But  our  text  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  word, 
"Jesus!"  What  is  the  meaning  of  it?  It  means  a 
"  deliverer,"  and  in  the  view  of  some  interpreters  it 
means  "  God,  the  deliverer."  Deliverer  ?  From  what  ? 
We  do  not  understand  the  power  of  his  great  office, 
unless  we  learn  the  nature  and  the  vileness  of  sin ; 
and  we  have  no  conception  how  mean,  how  detest- 
able sin  is,  unless  we  know  the  Heedlessness  of  it,  the 
nobleness  of  the  will  which  degrades  itself  into  it,  the 
excellence  of  the  law  which  is  dishonored  by  it.  All 
our  studies,  then,  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  will, 
the  unforced  voluntariness  of  depravity,  the  extent  of 
it  through  our  race,  the  depth  of  it,  the  purity  of  the 
commands  aiming  to  prevent  it,  the  attractions  of  vir- 
tue, the  strangeness  of  their  not  prevailing  over  the 
temptations  of  vice — they  are  not  mere  metaphysics ; 
— they  are  studies  concerning  the  truth  and  the  grace 
of  Immanuel,  who  is  God  luitli  us^  and  whose  name  is 
"Deliverer,"  because  he  delivers  his  people  from  their 
sins ;  sins  involving  the  power  and  the  penaltj  of  free, 
wrong  choice  ;  a  penalty  including  the  everlasting 
punishment  of  the  soul ;  a  punishment  suggesting  the 
3 


26       THE  PROMINENCE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

nature  and  the  character  of  the  divine  law,  and  the  di- 
vine Lawgiver,  in  their  relation  to  the  conscience  and 
all  the  sensibilities  of  the  mind;  and  that  mind,  as  un- 
dying as  its  Maker.  All  these  things  are  comprehended 
in  the  word,  "Jesus." 

'  But  our  text  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ  and  him  cru- 
cified :  and  this  third  term,  "  crucified,"  adds  an  em- 
phasis to  the  two  preceding  terms,  and  stirs  us  up  to 
examine  our  own  capabilities,  to  learn  the  skill  per- 
vading our  physical  organism,  so  exquisitely  qualified 
for  pain  as  well  as  pleasure  ;  the  wisdom  apparent 
in  our  mental  structure,  so  keenly  sensitive  to  all  that 
can  annoy  as  well  as  gratify  ;  and  thus  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  truth,  that  he  who  combines  all  of  our 
dignity  with  none  of  our  guilt,  and  with  all  of  the  di- 
vine glory,  and  who  thus  developes  all  that  is  fit  to 
be  explained  in  man,  and  all  that  can  be  explained 
in  God,  he  it  is  who  chose  to  hang  and  linger 
with  aching  nerve  and  bleeding  heart  upon  the  cross 
for  you  and  me.  This  cross  makes  out  an  atonement 
of  the  sciences  and  the  arts,  and  brings  them  also,  as 
well  as  devout  men,  at  one  with  God;  all  of  them 
tributary  to  the  doctrine  that  we  are  bought  with  a 
price,  that  we  are  redeemed,  not  with  silver  and  gold, 
but  with  the  precious  blood  of  a  man,  who  was  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh. — Too  large  a  theme  is  the  atone- 
ment? But  it  breaks  down  the  middle  wall  of  par- 
tition that  has  kept  apart  the  different  studies  of  men, 
and  it  brings  them  together  as  illustrations  of  the  truth, 
which  in  their  light  becomes  as  simple  as  it  is  great. 

'  The  very  objection,  then,  that  the  redemptive  work 
is  too  extensive  for  our  familiar  converse,  has  suggest- 
ed the  second  reason  why  it  should  be  the  main  thing 
for  us  to  think  upon,  and  speak  upon,  aiid  act  upon : 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  27 

It  systematizes  all  other  themes,  and  gains  from  them  a 
unity  which  becomes  the  plainer  because  it  is  set  off 
by  aluminous  variety;  and  for  this  cause,'  continues 
the  apostle,  '  I  intend  to  know  nothing  with  supreme 
love,  except  this  centralizing  doctrine  which  combines 
all  other  truths  into  a  constellation  of  glories.' 

There  is  still  a  third  inquiry  which  we  might  pre- 
sent to  the  author  of  our  text,  could  we  meet  him  in  a 
personal  colloquy  : 

"  Your  words  all  converge  toward  one  point;  will 
they  not  then  become  monotonous,  and  inapposite  to 
the  varying  wants  of  various,  or  even  the  same  indi- 
viduals?" 

'A  monotonous  theme  !' — this  is  the  reply  :  '  What 
can  be  more  diversified  than  the  character  and  work  of 
him  who  is  at  one  time  designated  as  the  omniscient 
God,  and  at  another  time  as  a  mechanic  ;  at  one  time  as 
a  judge,  and  at  another  time  as  an  intercessor ;  now  a 
lion,  and  then  a  lamb ;  here  a  vine,  a  tree,  there  a  way, 
a  door ;  again  a  stone,  a  rock,  still  again  a  star,  a  sun  ; 
here  without  sin,  and  there  he  was  made  sin  for  us. 

'  Monotonous  is  this  theme  ?  Then  it  is  sadly 
wronged,  and  the  mind  of  man  is  sadly  harmed  ;  for 
this  mind  shoots  out  its  tendrils  to  grasp  all  the  branches 
of  the  tree  of  life,  and  the  tree  in  its  healthy  growth 
has  branches  to  which  every  sensibility  of  the  human 
mind  may  cling.  The  judgment  is  addressed  by  the 
atonement,  concerning  the  nature  of  law,  of  distribu- 
tive justice,  the  mode  of  expressing  this  justice  either 
by  punishing  the  guilty  or  by  inflicting  pain  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  punishment,  the  influence  of  this  substitu- 
tion on  the  transgressor,  on  the  surety,  on  the  created 
universe,  on  God  himself     There  is  more  of  profound 


28  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

and  even  abstruse  philosophy  involved  in  the  specific 
doctrine  of  the  atonement,  than  in  any  other  branch 
of  knowledge ;  and  there  has  been  or  will  be  more  of 
discussion  upon  it,  than  upon  all  other  branches  of 
knowledge ;  for  sacred  science  is  the  most  fruitful  of 
all  sciences  in  logical  deduction,  and  this  specific  part 
of  the  science  is  the  richest  of  all  its  parts. 

'Not  only  the  judgment,  but  also  the  imagination  is 
addressed  by  the  atonement ;  as  this  is  the  comprehen- 
sive event  pointing  to  those  three  several  hours,  the 
like  to  which  have  never  been  heard  of,  no,  nor  ever 
shall  be :  that  first  hour,  the  hour  of  humiliating 
change,  when  the  Son  of  God,  who  had  been  from  the 
beginning  with  God,  gathering  in  the  praises  of  angels 
and  enjoying  the  honors  of  his  universal  reign,  on  a 
sudden  left  the  bosom  of  his  Father,  and  choirs  of 
angels  followed  far  off  from  his  train,  and  heralded 
to  the  shepherds  his  arrival  on  earth ; — and  that  sec- 
ond hour,  the  hour  of  gloom,  when  the  only-begotten 
Son,  smitten  of  the  Father,  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice 
at  the  heaviness  of  the  blow,  and  the  earth  was  aston- 
ished more  than  when  the  prophet  asked  of  old : 
Was  the  Lord  displeased  against  the  rivers?  Was 
thine  anger  against  the  rivers  ?  Was  thy  wrath  against 
the  sea? — and  that  third  hour,  the  hour  of  triumph, 
when  his  troops  of  heralds  shouted  at  his  arrival  :  Lift 
up  your  heads,  0  ye  gates;  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye 
everlasting  doors,  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in, 
scarred  in  his  hands  and  feet  and  side,  but  over  all  his 
foes  victorious,  and  marching  from  his  cross  to  his 
throne, — and  let  all  the  angels  of  God  now  worship 
him !  What  was  the  appearance  of  heaven,  how  did  its 
hosts  look  during  that  first  hour,  when  the  very  light  of 
heaven  moved  out  of  its  place  and  descended  grace- 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  29 

fully  like  a  star  to  Bethlehem.  And  what  was  the 
solemnity  in  heaven,  what  was  the  deed  done  there, 
during  that  second  hour,  when  the  first  Person  with- 
drew himself  from  the  second  Person,  and  the  angels 
veiled  their  faces  at  the  unutterable  solitude  of  him 
who  trod  the  wine-press  alone  ?  And  what  was  the 
festival  in  the  realm  of  joy  during  that  third  hour, 
when  its  monarch  came  riding  prosperously  home,  with 
his  sword  upon  his  thigh,  and  all  the  hearts  of  the  re- 
deemed threw  open  their  doors  for  his  glad  entrance 
— a  conqueror,  and  more  than  conqueror,  welcome, 
welcome  to  his  everlasting  rest!  At  these  three 
scenes,  in  a  life  all  full  of  transporting  eras,  the  imagi- 
nation falters,  and  lingers  around  them,  and  loses  it- 
self in  a  strange  delight,  and  whether  it  be  in  the  body 
or  out  of  the  body,  it  cannot  tell.  And  will  you  say 
that  scenes  like  these  are  monotonous?' 

"  Not  so  for  the  poet  or  the  philosopher,"  we  might 
reply,  "  but  are  they  variously  appropriate  for  the 
common  mind  ?  " 

'  The  common  mind !  ' — this  is  the  rejoinder.  '  The 
common  mind  is  reached  first  of  all  by  the  atonement. 
Those  children  who  cried  "hosanna"  in  the  temple,  are 
yet  in  our  eye  as  pictures  of  thousands  of  children,  who 
feel  and  love  the  divine  attributes  as  they  are  made 
plain  and  well  nigh  tangible  in  Jesus.  Simeon  and  Anna 
yet  stand  in  that  same  temple  as  statues  representing 
hundreds  of  aged  saints,  who  love  to  read  the  history  of 
their  Redeemer  when  all  other  letters  become  illeeri- 
ble,  and  who  can  hear  his  voice  when  all  other  voices 
become  inaudible,  and  who  grow  young  again  as  his 
fresh  doctrine  rejuvenates  their  heart.  Zacclieus  climb- 
ing the  sycamore  still  remains  in  our  vision  as  a  symbol 
of  many  a  rich  extortioner,  who  cannot  rest  until  he 


30  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT. 

has  entertained  his  Lord,  and  consecrated  the  half  of 
his  goods  to  the  poor,  who  are  to  be  always  with  him, 
reminding  him  of  their  Redeemer.  That  widow  weep- 
ing as  she  measures  her  slow  steps  out  of  the  city,  and 
smiling  through  her  tears  as  she  receives  her  son 
healthy  from  the  bier  on  which  he  was  borne  toward 
the  needlessly  opened  tomb,  yet  continues  in  our  view 
as  a  representative  of  many  a  mourner  relieved  by  his 
timely  charities.  Those  minstrels  who  laughed  him  to 
scorn  are  images  of  millions  who  despise  him,  and  then 
he  blesses  them,  and  then  with  glad  voice  they  spread 
the  fame  of  him  round  about ;  the  fame  of  him  whose 
mission  it  is  to  render  good  for  evil,  and  to  be  the  friend 
of  his  foes.  If  I  desire  to  be  soothed,  I  find  nowhere 
such  gentleness  as  at  his  last  supper.  If  I  aim  to  be 
stimulated,  I  find  nothing  like  his  crown  of  thorns 
stirring  me  to  duty.  If  I  need  to  be  joyous,  whither 
shall  I  go  but  to  him,  all  whose  garments  smell  of 
myrrh,  and  aloes,  and  cassia  out  of  the  ivory  palaces, 
whereby  they  have  made  him  glad. 

'  The  very  intimation  that  the  atonement  addresses 
only  one  sensibility,  and  is  appropriate  to  only  one  class 
of  men,  in  one  mood  of  mind,  has  now  suggested  the 
third  reason  w^hy  this  doctrine  should  be  the  main 
spring  of  our  inward  and  outward  enterprise :  It  is  so 
flexile  and  multiform,  that  it  must  be  apposite  to  every 
man  in  every  change  of  character  or  state ;  and  there- 
fore,' continues  the  apostle,  '  I  desire  to  make  nothing 
prominent  in  my  inward  thought  or  outward  life,  ex- 
cept this  ever-fitting  truth  of  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified ! ' 

Having  now  stated  three  reasons  why  it  is  impor- 
tant to  make  the  redemptive  scheme  our  main  object 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  31 

of  interest,  let  us  close  this  discourse  with  three  brief 
inquiries  into  the  method  of  giving  the  desired  promi- 
nence to  this  wonderful  scheme. 

And,  first,  were  we  conversing  face  to  face  with 
the  author  of  our  text,  when  he  had  become  Paul  the 
aged  and  the  counsellor,  we  might  ask  him : 

"In  what  method  shall  we  resist  our  natural  disin- 
clination to  make  the  grace  of  Christ  so  conspicuous  ? 
Is  there  not  such  a  disinclination  ?  Will  not  your 
hearers,  will  not  you  yourself,  much  more,  shall  not 
we  who  have  never  been  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven, 
feel  tempted  to  elevate  self  above  the  redemptive 
mercy  ^ 

'  I  fear  it ; ' — this  is  the  reply, — '  I  fear  it  for  my- 
self Many  secret  misgivings  have  disturbed  me.  I 
know  the  need  of  watchfulness.  But  I  have  a  fixed 
resolve.  If  any  man  be  tempted  to  find  some  less 
humbling  theme,  I  more.  Circumcised  the  eighth 
day,  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  as  touching  the  law  a 
Pharisee  (after  the  most  straitest  sect  I  lived  a  Phari- 
see), as  touching  the  righteousness  of  the  law  blame- 
less. Yet  I  am  determined  to  count  all  these  things  as 
loss,  that  I  may  win  Christ. 

'  You  inquire  about  my  hearers.  They  luill  prefer 
to  gratify  their  self-esteem,  rather  than  receive  the 
excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus.  I  have  tried 
them  again  and  again.  I  knew  the  pride  of  Corinth 
when  I  avowed  to  her  citizens  :  I  am  determined  to  know 
nothing  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ,and  him  crucified. 
I  knew  then  that  Corinth  was  called,  The  Wealthy. 
For  more  than  eighteen  months  I  dwelt  within  her 
proud  walls.     I  met  her  glad  citizens  on  the  Aero- 


32       THE  PROMINEXCE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

corintlius,  enjoying  their  magnificent  scenery.  I  saw 
them  going  down  the  marble  steps  of  their  fountain 
Peirene,  where  their  famed  Pegasus,  as  they  believed, 
was  caught  by  Bellerophoft.  I  visited  their  Stadium, 
and  I  drew  one  of  my  illustrations  from  it.  I  looked 
in  upon  their  Theatre,  and  was  moved  by  it  to  exclaim: 
We  are  become  a  Theatre  to  the  world,  to  angels,  to 
men.  I  beheld  the  gay  throngs  at  the  Corinthian 
Amphitheatre,  that  edifice  so  massive,  that  the  remains 
of  it,  as  also  of  their  Stadium  and  their  Theatre,  are  yet 
to  be  seen,  and  long  after  your  dying  day  will  be 
visited  and  admired  by  your  own  countrymen.  It  is 
true,  I  did  feel  often  that  those  votaries  of  pleasure 
would  look  upon  my  preaching  of  the  cross  as  foolish- 
ness in  comparison  with  their  rounds  of  festivity.  But 
none  of  these  things  moved  me.  I  was  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  /  had  a  fixed  plan,  I  wrote 
from  Corinth  to  the  very  capital  of  the  world  :  So  much 
as  in  me  is,  I  am  ready  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  you 
who  are  at  Rome  also.  Wherever  I  went,  I  knew  that 
bonds  and  imprisonment  awaited  me  for  my  chief 
theme  of  discourse,  yet  I  was  determined  to  confer  not 
with  flesh  and  blood;  for  I  said:  A  necessity  is  upon 
me ;  yea,  woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  even  in  the  palaces  of  Corinth  and  of  Rome. 
And  if  mi/  steadfast  resolution  helped  me  to  resist  my 
own  and  my  hearers'  pride  in  the  brilliant  cities  of  the 
East,  then  your  set  resolve  will  nerve  you  anywhere, 
everywhere,  to  the  same  humbling  service. 

'Here,  then,  is  the  first  method  in  which  you  may 
keep  up  the  habit  of  making  Jesus  and  him  crucified, 
the  soul  of  all  your  activity :  Bring  to  your  help  the 
force  of  a  resolute  determination.  There  is  a  tendency 
in   this   resolute  spirit  to  divert  your  thoughts  from 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  33 

other  themes,  to  turn  the  current  of  your  sensibilities 
into  the  right  channel,  to  invigorate  your  choice,  to 
exert  a  direct  and  reflex  influence  in  confirming  the 
whole  soul  in  Jesus.  God  is  in  that  determination. 
He  inspires  it.  He  invigorates  it.  He  works  with  it 
and  by  it.  There  is  a  power  in  it,  but  the  power  is 
not  yours  ;  it  is  the  power  of  God.  God  is  in  every 
holy  resolve  of  man.' 

In  our  interview  with  the  apostle  we  should  ad- 
dress to  him  a  second  inquiry  : 

"  In  what  method  can  we  avoid  both  the  fact  and 
the  appearance  of  being  slavishly  coerced  into  the  habit 
of  conversing  on  Christ  and  on  Christ  alone  ?  You 
speak  of  taking  your  stand,  adhering  to  your  decision ; 
but  this  dry,  stiff  resolve, — comes  any  genial  spirit 
from  it  ?  Will  you  not  be  a  slave  to  your  unswerving 
purpose  ?  Your  inflexible  rule, — will  it  not  be  a  hard 
one,  wearisome  to  yourself,  disagreeable  to  others  ? 
You  hold  up  a  weighty  theme  by  a  dead  lift." 

'  I  am  determined,' — this  is  the  reply, — '  and  it  is 
not  only  a  strong,  but  it  is  a  loving  resolve.  For  the 
love  of  Christ  constraineth  me;  whom  having  not  seen 
in  the  flesh  I  love  ;  in  whom,  though  now  I  see  him 
not,  yet  believing,  I  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory.  It  is  not  a  business-like  resolution.  It 
is  not  a  diplomatic  purpose.  It  is  not  a  mechanical 
force.  It  is  an  affectionate  decision.  It  is  a  joyous 
rule.  It  is  the  effluence  of  a  supreme  attachment  to 
the  Redeemer. 

'  And  this  is  the  second  method  in  which  you  may 
retain  Jesus  Christ  as  the  jewel  of  your  speech  and 
life :  Cherish  a  loving  purpose  to  do  so.  A  man  has 
strength  to  accomplish  what  with  a  full  soul  he  longs 


34       THE  PROMINENCE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

to  accomplish.  Your  Christian  toil  will  be  irksome  to 
yon,  if  it  be  not  your  cordial  preference;  but  if  your 
undeviatiug  resolve  spring  out  of  a  hearty  choice  of 
your  Saviour,  then  will  it  be  ever  refreshed  and  en- 
livened by  your  outflowing,  genial  preference  ;  then 
will  your  pious  work  be  the  repose  of  your  soul.  There 
is  a  power  in  your  love  to  your  work.  It  is  a  jDower 
to  make  your  labor  easy  for  yourself  and  attractive  to 
others.  This  is  not  your  power ;  it  is  the  power  of 
God.  He  enkindles  the  love  within  you.  He  enlivens 
it.  He  gives  it  warmth.  He  makes  it  instinct  with 
energy.     God  is  in  all  the  holy  joy  of  man. 

In  our  conference  with  the  author  of  our  text  we 
might  suggest  to  him  our  third  and  last  inquiry : 

"In  what  method  can  we  feel  sure  of  persevering 
in  this  habitual  exaltation  of  Christ?  You  speak  of 
your  stern  purpose,  but  can  you  depend  upon  the 
continuance  of  it  ?  You  speak  of  your  cordial  as  well 
as  set  resolve.  But  who  are  you  ?  (forgive  our  perti- 
nacious query.)  Jesus  we  know.  But  his  disciples, 
his  chief  apostles — is  not  every  one  of  them  a  reed 
shaken  with  the  wind,  tossed  hither  and  thither,  un- 
unstable  as  a  wave  upon  the  sea  ?" 

'I  know  it  is  so,' — this  is  the  reply.  '  Often  am  I 
afraid  lest,  having  preached  the  Gospel  to  others,  I 
should  be  a  castaway.  And  after  all  I  am  persuaded 
that  nothing,  height,  depth,  life,  death,  nothing  shall 
be  able  to  separate  me  from  the  love  of  Christ ;  for 
put  my  confidence  in  him,  and  while  my  purpose  is 
inflexible  and  affectionate,  it  is  also  inwrought  with 
trust  in  the  atonement  and  the  intercession.  I  do  pur- 
sue my  Christian  life  in  weakness  and  in  fear  and  in 
much  trembling.     For  all  the  piety  of  the  best  of  men 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  35 

is  in  itself  as  grass,  and  the  goodliness  thereof  as  the 
flower  of  the  field.  Therefore  serve  I  the  Lord  with 
all  humility  of  mind  and  with  many  tears  and  tempta- 
tions. Yet  I  am  determined  with  a  confiding  love.  I 
am  troubled  on  every  side,  my  flesh  has  no  rest,  with- 
out are  fightings,  within  are  fears ;  in  presence  I  am 
base  among  yon,  my  bodily  presence  is  weak  and  my 
speech  contemptible  ;  and  if  I  must  needs  glory,  I 
will  glory  in  the  things  which  concern  my  infirmities. 
Still,  after  all,  I  am  determined^  my  right  hand  being 
enfolded  in  the  hand  of  my  Redeemer.  I  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against 
that  day.  For  my  conversation  is  in  heaven,  from 
whence  I  am  to  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  shall  change  our  vile  body  that  it  may  be 
fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according  to  the 
mighty  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  himself  I  say  the  truth  in  Christ ;  I  lie 
not ;  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles,  that  am  not  meet 
to  be  called  an  apostle  because  I  injured  the  church  of 
God  ;  I  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints.  Still  I  am 
determined  ;  for  by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am  ; 
and  this  grace  which  was  bestowed  upon  me  was  not  in 
vain,  but  I  labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all ;  yet 
not  1  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me;  for  I 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 
me,  and  therefore  I  am  determined. 

'  Borne  onward,  therefore,  by  your  fixed  plan,  and 
no  one  can  succeed  in  any  thing  without  a  plan,  yet 
you  must  never  rely  ultimately  upon  your  determined 
spirit.  Allured  further  and  further  onward  by  your  de- 
light in  your  plan,  and  no  one  can  work  as  a  master  in 
any  thing  without  enthusiasm  in  his  prescribed  course, 


36  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT, 

still  you  must  not  place  your  final  dependence  upon 
your  affectionate  spirit ;  for  if  you  take,  for  your  last 
prop,  either  the  sternness  or  the  cheerfulness  of  your 
own  determination,  then  you  will  hioiu  your  determi- 
nation, and  you  are  7iot  to  know  any  thing  save  Jesus 
Christ  and  him  crucified.  Here,  then,  is  the  third 
method  in  which  you  may  give  the  fitting  prominence 
to  the  best  of  themes :  You  must  rest  for  your  chief 
and  final  support  on  him  and  only  on  him,  from  whom 
all  wise  plans  start,  by  whom  they  all  hold  out,  to 
whom  they  all  tend,  who  is  all  and  in  all,  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified.' 

My  Christian  brethren,  you  are  all  apostles.  Every 
man,  every  woman,  every  child,  the  richest  and  the 
poorest,  the  most  learned  and  the  most  ignorant  of 
you — who  have  come  up  hither  to  dedicate  yourselves 
and  this  sanctuary  to  your  Lord,  all  being  sent  of  Him 
to  serve  Him,  have  in  fact  and  in  essence  the  same 
responsibility  resting  on  you  as  weighed  on  the  author 
of  our  text.  And  he  was  burdened  by  the  same  kind 
of  temptations  and  fears  which  oppress  your  spirit. 
But  he  was  held  up  from  failing  in  his  work  by  a 
three-fold  cord ;  and  that  was  his  resolute  determina- 
tion, as  loving  as  it  was  resolute,  and  as  trustful  as  it 
was  loving,  to  know  nothing  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified.  The  last  that  you  hear  of  him  as  an  impeni- 
tent man  is  in  the  words :  "  And  Saul,  yet  breathing 
out  threatening  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of 
the  Lord."  It  was  Christ  whom  the  proud  Jew  last 
opposed.  The  first  that  you  hear  of  him  as  a  convicted 
man  is  in  the  words:  "  Who  art  thou.  Lord?"  It  was 
Christ  whom  the  inquiring  Jew  first  studied.  And  the 
first  that  you  hear  of  him  as  a  penitent  man  is :   "  Lord, 


THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMENT.  37 

what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  It  was  Christ  to 
whom  the  humble  disciple  first  surrendered  his  will. 
And  the  first  that  you  hear  of  him  as  a  Christian  minis- 
ter is :  "  And  straightway  he  preached  Christ  in  the 
synagogues  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God."  And  the  last 
that  you  hear  of  him  as  a  Christian  hero  is :  "I  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course. 
I  have  kept  the  faith ;  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a  crown  of  righteousness."  And  the  secret  of  this 
victorious  career  is  in  words  like  those  of  our  text :  '  I 
adhered  to  my  plan  (when  among  the  fickle  Corin- 
thians) ;  I  was  decided  (when  among  the  vacillating 
Galatians)  ;  to  know  nothing  (when  among  the  learned 
at  Athens  and  them  of  Ceesar's  household  at  Rome)  ; 
save  Jesus  Christ  (when  I  was  among  my  own  kins- 
men, who  scorned  him),  and  him  crucified  (when  I 
was  among  the  pupils  of  Gamaliel,  all  of  whom  despised 
my  chosen  theme)  ;  still  I  was  determined  to  cling  to 
that  theme  among  the  Greeks  and  the  barbarians,  be- 
fore Ouesimus  the  slave  and  Philemon  the  proud 
master ;  for  I  loved  my  theme,  and,  suffering  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God,  I  committed  the  keeping  of  my 
soul  to  him  in  well-doing  as  unto  a  faithful  Creator.' 

And  herein  is  it  to  be  your  plan,  my  brethren,  and 
your  joy,  not  to  make  this  sanctuary  the  resort  of 
wealth  and  of  fashion,  but  rather  of  humble  suppliants, 
who  by  their  prayers  may  divert  all  the  wealth  and 
fashion  of  the  world  into  the  service  of  your  Lord ; 
not  to  make  this  temple  the  resting  place  of  hearers 
who  shall  idly  listen  to  the  words  of  an  orator,  but  a 
temple  of  earnest  co-workers  with  Christ,  thinking  of 
him,  speaking  of  him,  loving  him  first  and  last  and 
midst  and  without  end.  As  you  come  to  this  £ouse  of 
God  on  the  Sabbath,  as  you  go  from  it,  as  your  week- 


38  THE    PROMINENCE    OF    THE    ATONEMNNT. 

day  recollections  gather  around  it,  may  yoli  renew 
and  confirm  your  plan  to  know  your  Redeemer,  and 

not  only  to  know  him,  but who  is  sufficient  for 

these  things? — not  to  know  any  thing  save  your  Re- 
deemer ;  and  not  only  to  shut  yourselves  up  to  the  su- 
preme love  of  nothing  except  Christ,  but  also, his 

grace  will  be  sufficient  for  you, to   worship  and 

serve  Christ  in  the  central  relation  of  him  crucified. 
Knowing  him  alone,  he  will  sustain  you  as  fully  as  if 
he  knew  you  alone.  He  will  come  to  you  in  this 
temple  as  frequently  as  if  he  had  no  other  servants  to 
befriend.  He  will  listen  to  your  prayers  as  intently 
as  if  no  supplications  came  up  to  him  from  other 
altars,  and  he  will  intercede  for  you  as  entirely  as  if  he 
interceded  in  behalf  of  no  one  else  ;  for  remember,  that 
when  he  hung  upon  the  cross,  he  thought  of  you,  and 
died  for  you,  just  as  fully  as  if  he  had  been  determined 
to  think  of  no  one,  and  to  die  for  no  one,  save  you, 
whom  he  now  calls  to  the  solemn  service  of  consecrat- 
ing your  own  souls,  and  your  "holy  and  beautiful 
house"  to  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified. 


HISTORICAL  STATEMENT 

AND 

FORMAL   DEDICATION   OF   THE   HOUSE, 

BY     THE     PASTOR, 

REV.  JOSEPH   p.  THOMPSON,  D.D. 


"  Two  years  ago — on  the  last  Sabbath  in  April,  1857 — this 
church  assembled  for  the  last  time  in  the  house  where  it  was  organ- 
ized, and  where  for  seventeen  years  it  had  maintained  the  worship  of 
God  and  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel,  not  alone  for  its  own  edifica- 
tion, but  for  the  benefit  of  a  great  and  miscellaneous  congregation, 
including  large  numbers  of  young  men  and  of  strangers,  lieluc- 
tantly  constrained  by  the  removal  of  its  resident  members  and  the 
encroachment  of  business  upon  its  location,  to  abandon  a  house 
which,  however  secularized  by  necessary  uses,  had  been  often  hal- 
lowed by  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  the  association  of 
great  Christian  convocations,  the  Tabernacle  Church  sought  carefully 
and  prayerfully  for  a  site  which  should  answer  its  highest  aims  of 
usefulness.  Beginning  at  Fourth  street,  we  canvassed  the  whole 
ground  from  that  point  to  Fortieth,  and  from  the  Third  avenue  to 
the  Seventh,  and  finally,  with  much  hesitation  selected  this  spot, 
three  miles  above  the  old  Tabernacle,  as  a  point  at  which  we  might 
in  ieu  years  gather  a  substantial  congregation.  It  was  our  hope  that 
by  degrees  the  larger  part  of  our  members  would  establi.sii  their 
homes  in  this  vicinity.  Already  we  find  that  more  than  one  half  of 
our  stated  congregation  reside  above  this  location ;  and  there  begins 
to  be  a  demand  for  church  accommodation  a  mile  north  of  us.  We 
of  this  church  shall  rejoice  to  see  that  region  occupied,  whether  by 
our  own  or  any  other  denomination  of  the  household  of  Faith. 

"  The  first  year  of  our  removal  from  the  old  Tabernacle  was 
divided  between  the  City  Assembly  Rooms  on  Broadway  and  the 
Home  Chapel  in  Twenty-ninth  street.  With  a  fluctuating  congrega- 
tion and  no  permanent  home,  we  could  not  look  for  large  accessions 
to  our  numbers ;  yet  we  shall  always  remember  with  gratitude  our 
pleasant  social  worship  in  Home  Chapel,  and  scenes  of  mercy  there 
enjoyed. 

"  On  the  first  Sabbath  of  last  May  we  were  permitted  to  take 
possession  of  our  own  chapel  under  this  roof,  where  we  have  con- 
tinued to  worship  until  the  present  time.  During  that  year  more 
than  one  hundred  persons  have  been  added  to  the  communion  of  this 
church,  and  our  Sabbath  school  has  more  than  doubled  its  numbers. 
To-day  we  rejoice  in  the  privilege  so  long  anticipated,  of  worshipping 
in  the  sanctuary  which  shall  henceforth  be  our  home.  This  spacious 
and  attractive  edifice,  though  not  so  commodious  as  the  old  Taber- 
nacle,' will  contain  as  large  a  congregation  as  can  well  be  cared  for 
by  a  single  pastor.     And  it  is  better  that  we  should  here  concentrate 


40  DEDICATION    OF    THE    HOUSE. 

Btrenirtli  with  a  view  to  vigorous  colonization  from  time  to  time,  than 
to  dissipate  our  influence  as  a  church  upon  a  changing  multitude. 

"  This  house,  which  is  founded  throughout  upon  the  native  rock, 
is  built  of  the  best  materials  and  in  the  most  substantial  manner. 
During  all  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  Trustees  and  Building  Com- 
mittee having  availed  themselves  of  the  best  professional  skill,  have 
given  to  it  their  active  and  patient  superintendence,  and  with  con- 
scientious fidelity  have  discharged  the  responsibility  committed  to 
them.  The  church  and  society  have  in  all  proper  ways  co-operated 
in  the  work,  and  every  one  has  contributed  a  part ; — the  ladies'  circle 
with  the  fruits  of  their  pleasant  toil,  have  provided  the  furniture  of 
this  pulpit  and  its  platform,  as  well  as  that  of  the  social  rooms  in 
the  chapel.  The  house,  now  furnished  for  the  worship  of  God  in 
every  particular  except  the  organ,  has  .been  completed  without  ac- 
cident to  life  or  limb. 

"  It  does  not  accord  with  our  views  of  worship  under  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation,  nor  with  the  usages  of  our  body,  to  attach  sanctity 
to  a  material  structure.  But  it  does  accord  with  the  inmost  sense 
of  propriety  and  with  the  devout  sentiment  of  Christian  gratitude, 
and  it  has  also  the  warrant  of  Scripture,  that  we  should  set  apart 
with  due  solemnity  the  place  in  which  we  and  our  children  shall 
worship  God,  and  should  hallow  it  in  our  thoughts  and  associations. 
Now,  therefore,  0  ye  people,  blessed  of  the  Lord,  I  would  call  upon 
you  to  arise'"  and  join  with  me  in  offering  this  new  temple  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Triune  God — the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghos.l^ 
We  bring  to  God  with  reverence  and  gratitude  this  house  of  prayer 
.  and  praise,  beseeching  him  to  hallow  it  with  his  presence  in  our 
assemblies  and  his  blessing  upon  our  worship.  We  dedicate  these 
walls  to  the  uses  of  a  chui'ch  of  Christ.  We  dedicate  these  seats  for 
the  solemn  and  joyful  convocations  of  God's  people,  in  the  reverent 
worship  of  his  Name,  and  the  devout  hearing  of  his  Word.  We 
dedicate  this  choir  to  the  service  of  song  in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 
We  dedicate  this  pulpit  to  the  preaching  of  Christ  and  him  crucified ; 
and  this  table  of  communion  to  that  high  and  sacred  service  whereby 
we  do  show  forth  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come.  May  he  whose 
glory  fills  the  heavens  condescend  to  meet  his  people  in  this  house. 
May  Christ  here  build  into  his  temple  new  and  living  stones.  May 
the  Holy  Spirit  here  bless  the  Word  unto  sanctification  and  eternal 
life.  May  our  children  and  our  children's  children  here  worship  in 
the  beauty  of  holiness,  when  we  shall  slumber  in  the  dust.  And 
when  our  earthly  house  of  this  Tabernacle  shall  be  dissolved,  may 
we  enter  upon  a  purer,  nobler  worship  in  that  city  where  the  Lord 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.  And  to  the  King 
Eternal,  Immortal,  Invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  be  glory  in  the 
church  by  Christ  Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end 
Amen." 

*  At  tLis  point  the  entire  assembly  arose,  and  stood  during  the  remainder  of 
this  dedication. 


II. 


THE  ASSEMBLY   OF  CHRISTIA}(S  THE 
TEMPLE  OF  GOD. 


EICHAED    S.   STORKS,  Jr.,  D.  D 

PASTOR  OP  THE  CnXTECn  OF  THE  PILGEUIS,   BKOOKLTN,  N.  Y. 


SERMON 


For  ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God  ;  as  Ood  hath  said,  I  will 
dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  than;  and  I  loill  he  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people. — 2  Corinthians,  vi.  16. 

It  is  a  natural  characteristic  of  systems  of  lieathen- 
ism,  that  they  recognize  the  local  residence  on  earth  of 
their  manifold  divinities.  Sometimes  upon  distant 
and  inaccessible  mountains  these  are  held  to  be  en- 
throned ;  sometimes  to  haunt  the  forest  wilds,  or  to 
walk  amid  verdurous  and  solitary  meadows,  filled  with 
sunshine  and  the  murmur  of  streams;  and  sometimes 
to  lurk  in  the  shadowy  caverns  which  a  more  majestic 
than  human  art  has  hung  with  its  pendents,  or  strewn 
with  the  fragments  of  their  vari-colored  crystals.  The 
sacred  oak-tree  at  Dodona,  with  doves  nestling  along 
its  boughs,  and  giving  the  responses  of  the  god  to  the 
worshippers,  is  the  primitive  shrine  of  one  divinity. 
The  mighty  cloud-crowned  summit  of  Olympus  holds  ou 
it,  invisible  to  mortal  eyes,  the  city  where  all  the  gods 
assemble,  and  the  gates  of  which  open  directly  into 
Heaven. 

Always  a  special  indwelling  of  the  gods  in  the 
TEMPLES  built  for  them,  or  where  they  were  worshipped, 


44  THE   ASSEMBLY    OF    CHEISTIANS 

has  been  asserted  by  heathenism ;  and  herein  has  been 
one  of  the  chiefest  of  the  secrets  of  its  hold  upon 
mankind.  The  temples  of  Venus,  all  over  the  East ; 
of  Diana,  at  Eleusis  or  at  Ephesus ;  of  Jupiter  Capi- 
tolinus,  at  Eome  or  at  Antioch ;  the  temples  of  Isis, 
Osiris,  or  Serapis,  the  gigantic  remains  of  which 
still  amaze  the  beholder  at  Philte  or  at  Thebes ;  and 
that  magnificent  cluster  of  temples,  flashing  in  the 
splendor  of  a  consummate  art  subduing  and  exalting 
the  most  perfect  material,  which  made  the  Acropolis, 
and  the  city  beneath  it,  the  wonder  of  the  world  :  all 
these,  as  well  as  those  which  have  succeeded  them  in 
other  parts  of  the  earth,  and  •  down  to  our  times,  have 
been  held  thus  honored.  It  has  been  believed  that  the 
divinities  to  whom  these  respectively  pertained  had 
residence  in  them  ;  and  that  there  pre-eminently,  if  not 
there  solely,  they  would  hear  and  answer  the  prayers 
of  petitioners.  So  the  earth  has  come  to  seem  peopled 
with  gods.  To  the  imaginative  worshipper  the  air  about 
him  has  been  quick  with  their  presence.  And  if  the 
character  attributed  to  them  had  been  less  brutal  and 
gross  than  it  was,  more  high  and  celestial,  something 
of  elevating  and  purifying  force  would  infallibly  have 
passed  from  it  into  human  society.  This  localizing 
of  the  imagined  presence  of  the  gods  has  given  to 
the  different  religions  of  the  world  nearly  all  their 
effectiveness. 

And  the  same  thing  in  part,  as  applied  to  Jehovah, 
the  living  and  true  God,  is  shown  in  the  Mosaic  sys- 
tem. It  was  one  great  means  of  educating  the  He- 
brews, and  of  making  their  conceptions  of  truth  more 
vivid,  to  associate  particular  promises  and  gifts  with 
particular  places.  It  was  necessary,  too,  to  preserve 
their  separate  national  unity,  until  the  Messiah  should 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  45 

come  for  the  world  from  the  midst  of  this  special  and 
continuous  people, — it  was  necessary  to  perfect  and 
maintain  their  integrity,  amid  the  fluctuations  of  empire 
around  them,  against  the  frequent  shock  of  war,  and  in 
spite  of  occasional  punitive  deportations, — that  the 
nation  should  be  anchored  to  certain  fixed  points ;  the 
centres,  not  only  of  society  or  of  government,  but 
equally,  and  even  primarily,  of  the  religion  which 
constructed  and  consecrated  these ;  that  there  should 
be  localities,  to  which  the  Assyrian  captives  could  look 
back,  to  which  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  might  return  to 
rebuild  the  venerated  ruins,  and  around  which  should 
rally,  age  after  age,  and  through  all  alternations,  the 
affections  of  the  people. 

So  the  temple  was  erected  on  the  steep  and  rocky 
crest  of  Moriah,  the  summit  consecrated  long  before 
by  Abraham's  faith  and  the  angel's  interference,  and 
in  that  temple  the  Shekinah  was  revealed ;  and  that 
was  the  centre  of  the  whole  Hebraic  system.     From 
every  land  the  Israelite  turned  with  ardent  heart  to 
the  Temple  and  its  glories.     He  thought  of  them  by  the 
river  of  Chebar.     His  heart  remembered  them  beneath 
the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon,  or  before  the  majestic 
shapes  of  Nimroud.     The  thought  of  them  gave  him 
his  song  in  the  night ;  and  the  hope  of  restoring  them, 
when  they  were  overthrown,  shed  fervor  and  courage 
over  his  life.     For  in  the  Temple  JEHOVAH  dwelt. 
More  beautiful  than  all  palaces,  because  invested  with 
nobler  promises,  it  was  awful  as  Sinai,  with  the  pres- 
ence of  Omnipotence.     All  ornament  was  appropriate, 
yet  all  was  too  poor  for  it,  since  the  Highest  was  in  it. 
The  valley  of  the  Jordan  gave  up  of  its  lilies,  the 
meadows    of    their    pomegranates,    Lebanon   of    his 
cedai's,  distant  lands  of  their  gold,  to  make  the  place 


46  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

of  the  Lord  glorious ;  and  tlieii  within  it  the  luminous 
pillar  which  had  traversed  the  wilderness,  and  had 
there  been  the  wondrous  leader  of  Israel,  became  fixed 
and  resident,  and  added  to  all  material  beauties  its 
heavenly  glory.  This  was  natural,  needful,  in  the 
Mosaic  economy ;  and  so  it  was  ordained. 

But  when  Christ  came,  this  localizing  of  Divinity, 
this  transient  limitation  of  the  Divine  manifestation  to 
certain  places  and  a  sensible  apparatus,  was  no  longer 
needful.  The  Hebrew  nation  had  accomplished  then 
its  great  historic  and  providential  mission,  and  a  relig- 
ion was  now  to  be  evolved  from  it  more  simple, 
spiritual,  and  so  universal ;  a  religion  which  should  be, 
like  the  Lord  who  revealed  it,  possessed  of  a  matchless 
inherent  energy,  which  localities  could  not  limit  nor 
time  exhaust. 

It  was  therefore  in  intimate  and  evident  accord- 
ance with  the  genius  of  Christianity  that  there  should 
be  to  it  no  consecrated  localities ;  no  places  as  such 
set  apart  from  the  world  for  the  more  auspicious  and 
successful  worship  of  Him  who  is  invisible.  The  differ- 
ence between  Christianity  and  Judaism  is  herein 
plainly  shown;  the  immeasurable  superiority  of  the 
former  is  declared.  The  true  doctrine  is  more  emphati- 
cally declared  concerning  God's  nature,  His  govern- 
ment, and  His  presence.  A  higher  degree  of  moral 
culture  is  supposed  in  mankind ;  and  the  power  is  sent 
forth  which  shall  raise  and  refine  yet  more  largely  that 
culture,  and  shall  finally  make  it  complete  through  the 
earth. 

There  are  therefore  almost  no  strictly  personal  mon- 
uments left  us  of  Jesus.  It  was  not  intended  that  he 
should  be  revered  in  particular  places,  as  if  these  had 
a  sanctity.    No  gallery  has  his  portrait,  though  the  efiS- 


THE   TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  47 

gies  of  the  emperors  and  commanders  of  his  day  are 
familiar  to  all  the  collectors  of  coins — are  often  seen  in 
the  galleries  of  sculpture.  We  know  precisely  how 
Pilate  looked.  We  do  not  know,  and  shall  not  until 
we  ascend  after  him,  the  lines  of  His  majestic  face  who 
stood  before  Pilate,  at  once  captive  and  judge.  The 
very  dates  of  his  history  are  many  of  them  inextricably 
lost,  amid  the  confusions  of  tradition  and  conjecture. 
We  do  not  know  the  month  of  his  birth.  We  are 
only  confident  that  it  could  not  have  been  the  month 
assigned  by  tradition  and  custom  ;  that  it  must  have 
been  either  in  the  Autumn  or  the  Spring,  when  the  shep- 
herds would  naturally  watch  their  flocks  in  the  fields, 
and  the  stalls  at  the  inn  would  be  naturally  unoccupied. 
We  do  not  know  the  precise  localities  of  his  most 
amazing  miracles,  or  of  the  far  larger  parts  of  his  life. 
The  town  of  Bethlehem,  the  village  of  Nazareth,  the 
sea  of  Tiberias,  the  heights  that  sweep  outward  around 
Jerusalem,  abide  there  still.  Still  flows  the  Jordan 
along  his  ancient  and  well-worn  courses.  Still  rises 
Samaria  amid  its  magnificent  amphitheatre  of  hills. 
Ebal  and  Gerizim  enshadow  the  watered  valley  yet. 
Mount  Hermon  looks  northward,  as  of  old,  toward 
Damascus ;  and  Carmel  on  the  sea.  And  undoubtedly 
they  who  now  traverse  those  lands  experience  somewhat 
of  peculiar  emotion,  as  they  linger  amid  scenes  where 
they  know  the  Lord  has  trodden ;  as  they  float  upon 
waters  which  they  know  that  he  has  crossed.  But  the 
specific  localities  which  he  dwelt  in,  and  which  would 
have  seemed  precious  for  ever  to  his  people  through 
this  association  with  him  and  his  life,  the  houses  he 
occupied,  the  streets  he  traversed,  the  trees  beneath 
whose  shadow  he  rested,  the  solitary  places  where  he 
went  out  to  pray,  these  all  are  unknown.     We  do  not 


48  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

know  precisely  where  tie  was  baptized.  We  do  not 
know  precisely  where  lie  was  transfigured.  The  moun- 
tain on  which  he  wrestled,  fasting,  with  the  Spirit 
of  temptation,  is  but  doubtfully  conjectured.  The 
mountain  from  which  he  preached  that  sermon  which 
has  made  the  tour  of  all  lands  and  times,  and  which 
shall  endure,  still  young  as  the  morning,  till  the  earth 
itself  vanishes — the  mountain  we  cannot  name  at  all ; 
only  the  Word  forever  remains  to  us,  dissevered  from 
all  material  associations,  and  piercing  through  time,  as 
of  right  it  ought,  with  arrowy  directness  and  a  divine 
ubiquity. 

There  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  a  most  evident 
Providential  interference  to  prevent  these  localities 
from  being  so  definitely  ascertained  and  admitted 
that  there  should  be  danger  of  idolatrous  regard  to 
them.  It  was  not  till  after  the  close,  you  remember, 
of  the  first  quarter  of  the  fourth  century  from  the  ad- 
vent of  Christ,  that  the  mother  of  Constantino  set  out 
to  discover  the  to  her  sacred  spots  of  the  Nativity, 
the  Ascension,  and  the  Sepulchre  in  the  Garden. 
She  was  an  aged  and  credulous  woman,  not  a  discern- 
in  o*  and  practised  scholar.  She  was  compelled  to 
o-rope  her  way  through  all  the  obstructions  which 
centuries  of  Paganism  had  gathered  about  the  relics  of 
the  city,  which  the  Jews  had  then  for  seven  genera- 
tions been  forbidden  to  approach.  She  was  attended 
by  a  retinue  of  profligate  courtiers  or  enthusiastic 
devotees ;  and  she  travelled  in  state,  without  minute 
explorations.  She  lived,  too,  in  an  age  when  almost 
every  thing  was  credited  if  it  had  in  it  the  attraction 
of  strangeness,  if  it  appealed  to  the  quick  superstitious 
sensibilities.  It  is  not  marvellous,  therefore,  that  she 
should  have  disdained  the  suggestions  of  history,  and 
have  professed  to  be  guided  in  general  by  tradition. 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  49 

and  in  special  cases  by  supernatural  revelation,  in  her 
inquiry  for  the  places  which  she  sought ;  or  that  the 
result  of  that  inquiry  should  be,  we  may  not  say  with- 
out interest  perhaps,  but  certainly  without  validity  to 
us ; — the  birth-place  at  Bethlehem  being  assigned  to  a 
cavern,  which  hardly  answers  any  one  of  the  condi- 
tions in  the  narrative  of  the  Evangelists ;  the  scene  of 
the  Ascension  being  certainly  misplaced,  on  the  sum- 
mit of  Olivet,  and  not  at  Bethany ;  and  the  site  of  the 
Sepulchre,  with  that  of  the  Crucifixion,  being  located 
by  her  within  the  city,  not  outside  it. 

So  the  whole  religion  of  Christ  remains,  essentially 
dissociated  from  places.  The  very  Cana  of  Galilee,  in 
which  he  wrought  his  earliest  miracle,  is  not  yet  iden- 
tified beyond  dispute.  The  Mount  of  Precipitation 
has  been  transported  by  monkish  legends  two  miles  at 
least  from  the  village  of  Nazareth.  The  site  of  Caper- 
naum, where  he  dwelt  so  long,  and  wrought  so  many 
wonders  of  power,  cannot  be  traced.  We  may  as  well 
seek  to  find  now  the  water  with  which  he  washed  the 
disciples'  feet,  as  to  find  that  upper  chamber  in  Jerusa- 
lem, or  the  spot  where  it  stood,  in  which  he  instituted 
his  Last  Supper.  The  very  height  of  Calvary  has  gone. 
Why  is  this,  except  that  his  Religion  is  to  roam  the 
earth  in  an  absolute  freedom,  and  to  be  as  completely 
and  as  permanently  at  home  in  every  place  as  it  could 
have  been  at  Jerusalem  or  at  Nazareth  ?  Therefore, 
the  house  in  which  he  dwelt  has  perished  from  the 
earth.  Therefore  the  fig-tree  which  he  looked  upon 
and  cursed,  has  crumbled  to  its  roots,  and  has  become 
a  representative  in  this,  not  only  of  the  cities  that 
denied  and  pursued  him,  but  of  all  the  houses  and  syna- 
gogues which  he  taught  in.  The  grave  from  which 
he  raised  Lazarus  by  his  power  is  level  with  the  sod ; 


50  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

and  its  lips,  that  were  parted  once  as  those  of  no  other 
grave  had  been,  have  closed  again  in  dumb  forgetfnl- 
ness.  The  sea  whose  sweeping  storm  he  stayed,  and 
on  whose  rushing  waves  he  walked,  has  kept  no  image 
of  his  Divine  mien  impressed 'upon  its  mobile  mirror; 
and  the  hills  beside  Bethany  retain  no  monument,  as  the 
skies  overhead  retain  no  trace,  of  that  illustrious  and 
prophetic  Ascension  which  made  them  once  so  heaven- 
ly bright.  It  is  all  to  show  that  Christianity  is  uni- 
versal ;  that  every  house  of  human  dwelling  may  be 
Christ's  house ;  that  every  grave  may  be  like  Lazarus' ; 
and  every  spot  where  the  Christian  dies  be  the  scene 
of  a  new  and  real  ascension. 

It  is  not  improper,  I  think,  to  suppose  that  God  has 
allowed,  in  order  to  this,  the  land  of  Palestine  to  be 
possessed  by  the  stranger  almost  ever  since  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Church  ;  to  be  defiled  by  idolatries,  and 
scarred  by  violence  ;  the  mosque  to  be  builded  on  the 
site  of  the  Temple  ;  the  ploughshare  to  be  driven  over 
palaces  and  streets ;  the  every  association  of  sacredness 
to  be  trampled  out  and  rooted  up,  if  that  were  possi- 
ble, from  the  rocks  and  the  soil.  It  is  that  thus  may 
be  complete  the  great  spiritual  lesson,  that  Christianity 
is  a  system  divine  and  universal ;  not  dependent  on 
places,  not  limited  by  times  ;  that  it  goes  in  its  entire- 
ness  wherever  it  goes ;  and  that  every  spot  is  as  fit  an 
arena  for  it,  on  every  spot  which  God  hath  made  its 
temples  may  as  appropriately  be  built,  as  in  the  land 
which  heard  its  first  utterance.  I  think  that  only  here 
do  we  penetrate  the  mystery  of  God's  dealings  with 
that  land.  I  know  that  only  here  do  we  apprehend 
the  nature,  and  compass  the  scope,  of  the  Christian 
economy. 

And  yet  while  this  is  certainly  true,  it  cannot  be 


THE   TEMPLE   OF    GOD.  51 

doubted  that  in  all  times,  and  under  the  purest  light 
of  the  Scriptures,  there  have  been  impulses  in  the  minds 
of  believers  toward  the  worship  of  God  in  particular 
places;  there  has  been  a  practical  and  an  abiding  impres- 
sion that  in  certain  scenes,  and  on  the  occasions  appro- 
priate to  them,  He  is  specially  present,  and  that  there 
His  blessing  may  more  hopefully  be  sought.  Ignorance 
has  perverted  this  natural  impulse ;  and  a  crafty  super- 
stition has  sometimes  so  transformed  it  into  a  lie  that 
men  have  recoiled  from  that  into  skepticism ;  the  denial 
of  the  instinct  which  was  so  misinterpreted.  But  still  it 
has  recovered,  and  has  shown  itself  again  ;  and  even  the 
warmest  Christian  hearts  have  often  been  most  aware 
of  its  presence.  The  Scriptures  themselves  do  plainly 
favor  it ;  and  by  their  representations  of  God  in  His 
relation  to  the  Sanctuary,  and  by  the  importance  they 
everywhere  attach  to  the  ordinances  and  ministries  of 
a  pre-arranged  worship  in  His  house  on  the  Sabbath, 
they  justify  the  belief  that  He  is  in  some  sense  there 
specially  present ;  that  He  may  be  there,  more  hope- 
fully than  elsewhere,  approached  with  prayer.  There 
must  be,  then,  some  fact  beneath  this  ;  some  valid  law 
in  the  Divine  administration  which  gives  importance  to 
such  suggestions  ;  and  it  is  worth  our  while  to  investi- 
gate this.     We  can  find  it,  if  we  try. 

Certainly,  it  is  not  that  God  is  personally  present  at 
any  point  in  distinction  from  others,  and  in  exclusion 
of  them ;  or  that  He  is  present  at  any  one  point  in 
more  of  His  essential  glory  than  He  wears  at  all  others ; 
for  everywhere  through  the  universe,  at  all  times,  He 
is  present,  in  all  His  perfection.  His  omniscience.  His 
omnipotence,  the  requirements  of  His  government, 
the  descriptions  of  the  Scriptures,  all  compel  us  to 
admit  this.     It  is  an  indisputable  deduction  from  His 


52  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

infinitude ;  and  to  doubt  or  deny  it  were  virtually  to 
adopt  the  very  principle  of  Atheism.  The  melting 
cloud  dissolving  in  the  sunset,  the  misty  star-dust  fleck- 
ing the  skies,  in  those  as  here,  and  everywhere  else, 
He  is  supremely,  evermore  present. 

Nor  is  it  the  fact  that  God,  though  present,  will  not 
•hear  and  answer  the  prayer  that  is  offered,  or  the 
praises  that  are  sung,  from  another  than  the  appointed 
or  customary  place  ;  that  He  will  not  hear  the  humblest 
cry,  from  any  point,  in  the  midst  of  civilization  or  re- 
mote and  storm-girt,  where  the  shipwrecked  mariner 
lies  down  to  die,  where  the  wandering  traveller  spreads 
his  tent  for  the  night.  The  goodness,  wisdom, 
holiness  of  God,  the  perfection  of  His  government,  as 
well  as  the  facts  of  human  experience,  all  show  that 
He  is  graciously  present  with  every  human  soul  that 
seeks  Him.  It  is  our  privilege  undoubtingly  to  believe 
this.  The  driving  scud,  pierced  but  by  lightnings,  the 
splintered  wreck,  tossed  seething  over  rocks,  from  these 
one  may  pray,  to  a  throne  just  as  near,  for  an  answer 
as  prompt,  as  if  from  the  nave  of  oldest  temples,  or  by 
the  most  hallowed  fiireside  shrine. 

Least  of  all  is  it  the  fact  that  any  House  which  men 
have  builded  is  in  any,  the  least  conceivable  degree, 
more  acceptable  in  itself  to  Him  who  is  eternal  than 
any  other,  more  plain  and  humble ;  that  any  arches 
can  be  piled  to  such  height,  or  any  ornaments  be  so 
gracefully  and  sumptuously  clustered  upon  them,  that 
He  shall  be  pleased  with  them  in  distinction  from  others; 
that  any  majesty  of  proportions,  any  carefulness  of 
detail,  or  any  solemnities  in  the  form  of  consecration, 
can  so  set  apart  one  building  from  others,  that  He  who 
fiUeth  immensity  with  His  presence  shall  make  that 
His  peculiar  dwelling.     His  omnipresence.  His  eternal 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  53 

and  cabsolute  spirituality,  the  whole  idea  of  His  being 
and  character,  repulse  us  from  this.  TVe  hioio  it  is 
not  true. 

But  the  fact  which  the  Scriptures  do  imply  and 
present,  and  which  is  consonant  with  all  our  experience, 
is  this :  that  God  in  the  enlightening  and  renovating 
influence  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  for  communion  with  His 
people,  and  the  highest  advancement  of  their  spiritual 
welfare,  is  in  a  special  sense  present  in  the  assembly, 
where  they  have  met  to  pray  to  and  to  praise  Him ; 
He  is  so  present  there  that  His  influence  for  good  is 
there  likeliest  to  be  met ;  and  it  is  the  pre-eminent 
privilege  of  His  people  to  come  there  to  meet  Him. 
Not  in  the  House,  as  a  material  building  ;  that  is  either 
the  heathen  fable,  or  the  ancient  and  typical  Mosaic 
provision,  ordained  for  certain  national  and  temporary 
purposes.  But  in  the  assembly,  the  worshipping  Con- 
gregation, there  at  last  the  presence  of  God  is  the 
Christian  fact.  "Ye,"  says  the  Apostle,  "YE  are  the 
temple  of  the  living  God  1"  Not  the  stones  of  the  edi- 
fice, cemented  and  clamped,  but  the  souls  of  the  worship- 
pers, knit  together  through  faith  ;  not  groined  roofs 
and  echoing  aisles,  but  seeking  spirits,  and  the  minds 
that  look  upward ; — there  is  henceforth  the  shrine  of 
the  Infinite.     Let  us  notice  this  a  little. 

You  observe,  to  remove  a  preliminary  objection 
which  sometimes  may  not  unnaturally  arise,  that  it 
is   not    in  any     degree    derogatory    to    the    true 

AND  perfect  glory  OF  GOD,  TO  SUPPOSE  HIM  THUS  PRES- 
ENT    PECULIARLY   AND      STATEDLY    IN    THE    ASSEMBLY.       It 

does  not  limit  His  being  at  all ;  it  does  not  confine  His 
ubiquitous  energy,  or  in  any  degree  lay  restraint  on 
His  grace.  It  simply  implies,  if  it  be  true,  that  for 
specific  and  eminent  purposes,  for  the  perfecting  of 


54  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

his  Church,  and  the  more  effectual  bringing  of  men 
to  the  Is:nowledge  of  himself,  he  limits  the  usual  ex- 
pressions of  his  grace  to  the  gathered  Assembly  ;  that 
he  requires  a  fit  condition  to  the  bestowment  of  his 
gifts,  and  dispenses  those  gifts  at  times,  and  through 
channels,  adapted  to  secure  to  them  the  largest  effi- 
ciency, and  the  widest  distribution.  He  does  this  in  tem- 
poral things.  He  may  do  it  surely  in  spiritual  things. 
It  implies  no  reproach  on  his  wisdom  and  grace,  no  re- 
striction of  his  presence,  no  reduction  of  his  power,  if 
he  manifests  himself,  when  an  end  is  to  be  gained  by 
it,  more  brightly  than  elsewhere  in  such  solemn  Assem- 
blies. To  suppose-  him  careful  of  buildings  or  of  sites 
would  be  derogatory  to  his  august  majesty.  But  no 
spot  comes  on  all  his  glory — however  the  loose  senti- 
mentalist may  hint  it — no  shadow  is  cast  on  God's 
infinite  height  and  plenitude  of  prerogative,  from 
the  fact,  if  it  be  such,  that  he  peculiarly  manifests 
himself,  for  instruction  and  quickening,  where  a 
gathered  Congregation  waits  to  receive  him.  This  is 
according  to  his  wisdom  and  glory,  and  is  not  even 
apparently  opposed  to  them. 

You  observe  too,  still  further,  that  this  is  directly 
and  positively  adapted  to  certain  constitutional  ten- 
dencies IN  the  soul  ;  so  that,  considering  these  alone, 
and  holding  at  the  same  time  plainly  in  mind  the  end 
which  God  proposes  to  gain,  it  seems  natural  to  antici- 
pate that  he  should  connect  with  such  an  Assembly  the 
special  manifestations  of  his  power  and  grace.  A  mo- 
ment's thought  will  present  this  to  us. 

It  is  one  rule  of  our  mental  operation  that  moral 
impressions  are  most  freely  and  powerfully  made  on  the 
soul  in  connection  tuithtJie  excitement  of  the  social  sym- 
pathies^ the  awakening  and  replenishing  of  the  affection- 


THE   TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  55 

ate  nature ;  and  tliat  so  whatever  would  address  most 
directly  and  effectually  our  thought  and  emotion,  and 
impel  us  most  certainly  to  a  specified  course  of  action, 
must  reach  us  through  these,  and  not  through  a  mere 
intellectual  excitation. 

The  intellect   itself  will  act  more  vigorously,  with 
larger  range  and  a  more  vivid  insight,  when  the  heart 
warms  the  judgment ;  when  the  quick  social  nature  sheds 
a  glow  over  the  mind.    This  is  energized  and  inspired  by 
the  enthusiasm  of  that.      It  becomes  winged  and  intui- 
tive, not  plodding  and  prosaic,  when  the  fire  of  that 
has  been  infused  into  it.     So  the  moral  sense  is  made 
clearer  in  its  convictions,  and  more  vigorous,  prompt, 
and   determinate  in  its    action,  the  whole  soul  in   a 
word  becomes  charged  with  a  more  electric  vitality,  is 
more  thoroughly  alive  and  nobly  active,  when  this  re- 
sponsive and  sympathetic  constitution  has  been  roused 
to   free   though    quiet    movement. — ^This   cannot   be 
doubted.     We  have  felt  it  to  be  true  ;  and  if  we  had 
not,  the  records  of  monasticism,  in  the  very  mental 
deterioration  which  they  show,  and  the  still  more  fla- 
grant moral  degradation,  would  suffice  to  declare   it. 
The  views  we  gain  will  always  be  cleared,  our  percep- 
tion of  the  higher  and  invisible  realities  will  be  noblest 
and  most  animating,  our  emotion  in  regard  to  them 
most  appropriate  and  impelling,  when  the  social  affec- 
tions which  unite  us  with  our  fellows,  and  which  are  to 
the  unimpassioned  intellect  as  light  and  as  warmth,  are 
in  freest  activity. 

Yet  again,  too,  as  plainly,  it  is  a  law  of  our  mental 
operation,  that  that  which  is  invisible  and  above  our 
comprehension,  can  be  realized  to  us  best  by  being  asso- 
ciated with  tliat  ivhicli  is  visible^  and  which  so  appeals 
to  the  soul  through  the  senses. 

We  are  not  infinite,  though  we  are  spiritual.     We  are 


56  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

not  spiritual,  save  in  soul ;  and  the  body  has  constant  and 
intimate  relations  to  the  mind  and  its  movements.  We 
work  therefore,  necessarily,  under  the  forms  and  within 
the  limits  of  the  finite,  and  the  present :  and  it  is  only 
through  these,  as  if  locating  the  illimitable,  and  making 
definite  to  our  apprehension  the  unseen  and  everlasting, 
that  we  can  rise  to  the  attainment  or  mastery  of  them. 
"  A  thousand  years  are  with  God  as  one  day."      These 
are  the  measures  of  Time  and  the  Earth.     They  are 
caught  from  the  trifling  procedures  of  history.     They 
cannot  in  the  strict  sense  be  predicated  of  God,  without 
absurdity. — And  yet  they  are  needful  to  give  us  the 
least  consistent   idea  of  God's  eternity.     We  think  of 
the  Universe,  with  its  definite  though  to  us  unattainable 
bounds,  when   we  try  to  imagine  his  omnipresence. 
These  are  the  ladders,  along  which  we  climb,  to  reach, 
if  we  may,  the  inaccessible  glory.  They  are  the  natural 
material  media,  the  glasses  of  vision,  the  instruments 
of  thought,  by  means  of  which  we  arise  to  survey  the 
unlimited. — And  so  with  God's  presence,  in  the  manifes- 
tation of  His  power  and  grace.     If  we  thought  of  this 
everywhere,  and  at  no  point   in  particular,  we  should 
speedily  cease  to  think  of  it  at  all.    Dissipating  over  the 
earth  this  presence  of  the  Highest,  we  should  lose  the 
sense  of  its  realness  at  any  place.  It  is  by  concentrating 
that  presence  in  our  thoughts,  by  bringing  it  into  the 
definite  limits,  not  necessarily  of  sites,  but  of  services  and 
assemblies,  that  we  conceive  of  it  vividly,  and  are  im- 
pressed with  its  verity.  And  then  it  is  natural  to  conceive 
of  it  everywhere. 

Apply,  then,  these  principles,  which  come  from  the 
very  constitution  of  the  soul,  and  which  therefore 
naturally  govern  its  activity,  to  the  point  before 
us,  viz.,  the  special  presence  of  God,  in  the  manifes- 
tation of   His   energy    and   grace,  in  the    Christian 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  57 

Assembly.  Remember  that  the  end  to  be  gained  by 
Him  is,  the  bringing  the  personal  spirit  of  man  into 
immediate  communion  with  Himself;  the  familiarizing 
us  with  His  being  and  glory  ;  the  making  us  recipients 
of  His  spiritual  gifts.  It  is  an  end  which,  as  related 
merely  to  the  faculty  and  force  of  the  soul,  is  vast  and 
difficult :  unspeakably  more  so  than  to  bring  one  to 
comprehend  all  the  grandeur  of  the  Creation.  It  is  an 
end,  too,  to  which  the  heart  is  not  inclined ;  to  the 
accomplishment  of  which  its  depravity  and  selfishness 
present  permanent  obstacles.  How  then  shall  it  be 
effected  ?  How,  unless  the  principles  I  have  rapidly 
referred  to  be  brought  to  assist ;  unless  not  only  the 
power  of  habit,  but  the  quickening  force  of  social  sym- 
pathy, and  that  native  and  normal  and  subtile  facility 
with  which  the  soul  arises  from  the  things  which  are 
present  and  seen,  to  that  which  remains  eternal  and  in- 
visible— unless  all  these  are  made  available  to  bring  to 
us  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  to  lift  us  up  toward 
union  with  Him  ?  And  how  shall  this  be,  except  God 
be,  in  very  deed,  in  a  special  sense  present,  by  the  in- 
fluence of  His  spirit,  and  in  the  expressions  and  signs 
of  His  grace,  in  the  Assembly  where  His  people  have 
met? 

Surely,  my  friends,  if  we  think  with  attention  of  the 
nature  of  the  soul,  and  of  its  moral  relations  to  God, 
especially  if  we  think  of  it  in  connection  with  the  end 
thus  proposed  to  be  gained  for  it,  we  shall  perceive 
that  while  in  no  sense  derogatory  to  God,  it  is  in  all 
respects  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  the  mind  which  He  has 
formed,  and  to  which  now  He  would  manifest  Himself, 
that  He  should  thus  express  Himself  to  men,  with 
peculiar  fulness,  in  an  eminent  degree,  in  the  Assembly 
for  prayer.  To  our  highest  devotion,  our  clearest 
•  5 


58  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

knowledge,  our  most  iDfluential  and  decisive  activity, 
we  need  these  '  set  and  awful  times '  between  Him 
and  ourselves.  We  need  to  view  him  in  the  centrality 
of  the  Temple,  in  order  that  we  may  view  Him  in  the 
reaches  of  the  universe.  We  need  to  see  Him  amid  His 
people,  that  we  may  see  Him  on  His  throne,  exalted 
among  the  angels,  in  the  light  inapproachable. 

And  still  further  you  will  observe  how  fully  the 
Scriptures  warrant  us  in  believing  that  God  is  thus,  in  a 
specific  and  limited  but  still  a  real  sense,  present  pecu- 
liarly in  the  Assembly  of  Christians.  I  have  spoken 
already  of  the  Hebrew  economy  ;  and  that  was  only  pro- 
phetic and  anticipatory  of  a  broader  truth  to  be  realized 
in  the  Christian.     Let  us  then  for  a  moment  revert  to  it,. 

"  They  have  seen  thy  goings, 0  God,"  says  the  Psalm- 
ist, ''even  the  goings  of  my  God,  my  King,  in  the 
Sanctuary."  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  0  ye  gates;  and  be 
ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors,"  sang  the  singers 
of  Israel  at  the  solemn  dedication,  "and  the  King  of 
glory  shall  come  in."  "  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ?  " 
was  the  response  that  rolled  back  from  the  cloud  of  the 
worshippers  on  the  opposite  hill.  "  The  Lord,  mighty 
and  strong ;  the  Lord,  mighty  in  battle."  And  then 
again  arose  the  chorus:  "Lift  up  your  heads,  0  ye 
gates;  even  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors ;  and  the 
King  of  glory  shall  come  in ;" — shall  come  that  He  may 
meet  His  people,  and  that  their  hearts  may  shine  in 
His  presence.  "Now  when  Solomon  had  made  an  end 
of  praying,  the  fire  came  down  from  Heaven,  and  con- 
sumed the  burnt-offering  and  the  sacrifices ;  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  house ;  and  the  priests  could 
not  enter  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  because  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  had  filled  the  house."  So  when  Moses  had 
finished  the  work  of  the  Tabernacle,  the  record  is. 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  59 

"  Then  a  cloud  covered  the  tent  of  the  congregation, 
and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle :  and 
Moses  was  not  able  to  enter  into  the  tent,  because  the 
cloud  abode  thereon."  So  in  the  year  when  king 
Uzziah  died,  Isaiah  saw  the  Lord  in  a  vision,  seated 
'  upon  a  throne  high  and  lifted  up,  and  his  train  filled 
the  Temple.'  And  so  before  Ezekiel,  the  house  was 
filled  with  the  heavenly  cloud ;  and  the  courts  were 
full  of  the  brightness  of  the  Lord's  glory  ;  till  he  fell 
on  his  face  in  fear  and  awe. 

Now  what  is  all  this,  this  visible  apparatus  of 
descent  and  manifestation,  this  filling  of  the  house  with 
cloud  and  brightness,  this  crowning  the  building  with  a 
sensible  splendor,  but  just  the  august  and  amazing  sym- 
bolic show  through  which  the  Lord  would  indicate  the 
truth,  and  impress  it  on  the  Hebrews,  that  there  He 
was  to  answer  and  bless  them,  as  year  by  year  they 
were  gathered  to  meet  Him  ?  And  what  was  this  but 
a  prophecy  of  what  should  be,  when  the  Temple  itself 
should  have  vanished  away,  when  the  sacrifice  should 
no  more  need  to  be  offered,  but  when  the  worship 
there  inaugurated  should  still  go  on,  in  humbler  forms 
and  in  more  modest  sanctuaries,  throughout  the  World  ? 
What  was  physical  then,  is  spiritual  now  ;  but  as  real 
it  is  as  though  no  chasm  of  years  intervened.  Their 
privilege  is  ours,  only  broadened  and  brightened,  as 
well  as  their  duty. 

So  afterward,  therefore,  when  the  Apostles  were 
assembled,  and  had  prayed  for  the  Spirit — though  it 
was  but  in  a  chamber  that  they  were  gathered,  and  the 
temple,  with  marble  walls  and  roof  arising  on  Moriah 
and  pointing  upward  its  spikes  of  gold,  was  shut  to 
their  entrance, — the  Dlace  was  shaken  beneath  and 
about  them,  and  they  were  filled  with  the  power  from 


60  THE   ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

on  high.  The  Saviour  had  promised  to  his  disciples, 
as  among  the  chiefest  and  grandest  of  their  privileges, 
that  He  would  be  with  them  to  the  end  of  the  world ; 
and  that  wherever  two  or  three  were  assembled  in  His 
name,  He  would  be  present  to  own  and  bless.  And 
through  the  unfolding  Christian  history,  subsequent  to 
his  resurrection  and  ascension,  we  have  the  bright  ful- 
filment of  the  promise,  and  find  that  wherever  his  peo- 
ple were  gathered  there  was  his  shrine,  his  place  of 
most  glorious  manifestation. 

The  new  dispensation  thus  answers  to  the  old,  with 
only  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  completion  of  what 
was  then  typical.  Here  is  the  point  at  which  they  in- 
terlink, the  one  with  the  other ;  not  in  the  outward  and 
perishable  Building,  but  in  the  Assembly  of  intelligent 
souls,  is  now  and  henceforth  the  residence  of  the  High- 
est. The  whole  tenor  of  the  Scripture  shows  God  to 
have  still,  as  He  has  had  from  the  first,  a  place  of  pecu- 
liar manifestation.  But  with  the  new  and  more  ample  dis- 
pensation, it  is  Ye  who  are  his,  and  who  meet  to  praise 
him,  Ye  are  the  Temple ;  and  He  shall  dwell  and  walk 
in  you ;  and  the  Spirit  of  light  shed  abroad  in  your 
hearts,  that  shall  be  the  perpetual  Shekinah ! 

I  have  only  to  add,  then,  in  one  word,  further,  that 
what  is  thus  consonant  with  the  nature  and  character 
of  Jehovah  himself,  as  well  as  with  aptitudes  and  laws 
of  the  soul,  and  what  is  so  manifestly  promised,  fore- 
shadowed and  fulfilled  in  the  Scriptures,  has  to  us  that 
verity  which  comes  with  experience.  We  have  felt  it 
to  be  true. 

Not  that  we  have  seen  God,  in  physical  apparition, 
upholding  or  overpowering  the  souls  of  his  people ; 
not  that  we  have  marked  the  unincorporate  glory 
making  the  faces  of  the  Christian  Assembly  resplendent 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  61 

with  its  brightness,  or  have  heard  the  voice  that  holds 
worlds  on  its  accents  rolling  in  calm  and'  harmonious 
thunders  through  sermon  and  song,  and  the  utterance 
of  prayer;  but  that  we  have  perceived  and  felt  our- 
selves nearer  to  God,  in  the  vision  of  his  character, 
in  the  luminous  and  broad  comprehension  of  his  plans, 
and  in  spiritual  sympathies  with  Him  and  his  will, 
when  gathered  with  his  people,  than  at  any  other 
time ;  have  so  perceived  and  felt  this  nearness  as  to 
place  the  matter  beyond  our  doubt  that  there  was  an 
objective  and  permanent  reality,  giving  validity  to  the 
experience  ;  that  it  was  not  a  matter  of  mere  imagina- 
tion, a  purely  subjective  and  mental  aspiration,  but 
that  God  was  there  with  us,  as  not  elsewhere.  We 
have  recognized  His  uplifting  and  purifying  influence, 
on  our  desires,  our  hopes,  our  thoughts.  We  have  had 
sublime  personal  intercourse  with  Him,  in  prayer  and 
in  praise.  The  mists  have  seemed  to  roll  away,  the  visi- 
ble walls  to  sever  and  part,  till  we  saw  almost  the  pil- 
lars of  His  palace,  and  knew  how  glorious  and  how  vast 
is  His  home.  And  it  has  been  with  the  light  we  have 
carried  from  thence  that  our  houses  and  hearts  have 
long  been  bright !  The  clearest  knowledge,  the  warm- 
est love,  the  most  exalted  inspiring  hope,  the  charity 
that  was  born  in  us  by  a  touch  of  His  spirit,  the  faith 
that  looks  serenely  at  death,  and  welcomes  the  grave  as 
a  gateway  to  Heaven — these  all  have  been  born  in  us, 
not  in  one  Building  in  distinction  from  others,  but  in 
the  place  where  Christians  meet,  and  where,  because 
they  thus  meet  there,  we  have  found  His  very  sanctuary 
and  seat !  I  need  but  suggest  this  to  recall  it  to  your 
minds,  and  to  show  the  brilliant  testimony  it  pours  on 
the  point  we  are  considering.  It  is  too  bright  to  be 
obscured. 


62  THE   ASSEMBLY    OF   CHRISTIANS 

It  is  a  truth,  then,  shown  us  by  all  this,  that  God 
is  everywhere  especially  present  in  the  Assemblies  of 
His  children,  there  to  exhibit  his  power  and  grace ; 
that  there  He  may  be  met  as  not  elsewhere ;  and  that 
though  always  He  hears  the  soul  that  cries  unto  him, 
from  amid  what  darkness  and  loneliness  soever,  of 
the  forest,  the  dungeon,  or  the  chamber  of  poverty,  of 
the  mountain-crest  that  greets  the  morning,  or  the 
spar  that  tosses  drearily  on  the  wave,  yet  in  the  As- 
sembly where  his  people  are  gathered  his  grace  is 
seen  oftenest,  and  that  there  his  power  is  most  grandly 
displayed.  Not  curious  marbles,  but  conscious  spirits, 
these  are  His  dwelling.  The  gathering  of  the  saints 
attracts  Him  more  than  cedar  floors  and  silken  veils, 
with  stones  cut  in  lily-work,  and  walls  overlaid  with 
plates  of  gold  !  "  Ye  are  the  Temple;"  and  no  longer 
is  it  the  building. 

But,  my  friends,  if  this  be  so,  what  a  privilege  to 
MEET  with  the  PEOPLE  OF  GoD !  This  is  the  thought  that 
springs  first  from  the  theme !  "  Blessed  are  they  that 
dwell  in  Thy  courts,"  said  the  Psalmist  of  old;  "  they 
will  still  be  praising  Thee !  "  Not  they  who  are  there 
for  an  occasion,  for  an  hour,  and  then  are  absent 
for  weeks  together ;  not  they  who  are  there  for  the 
morning  only,  but  who  dare  not  face  the  distance  or 
the  heats  of  the  after  meridian ;  not  they  who  are 
there  when  their  pastor  is  to  preach,  but  are  hither 
and  yon,  in  the  streets,  or  at  home,  Avhen  a  stranger 
takes  his  place;  but  they  who  dwell  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord  ;  who  are  planted  and  set  there  in  the  vital 
hold  of  affectionate  familiarity  ;  who  are  there  on  each 
Sabbath,  as  each  secular  day  at  the  place  of  their  busi- 
ness ;  who  are  there  through  the  day,  for  communion 
with  the  Highest ;  who  can  extract  some  nourishment 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  63 

of  thought,  some  glimpse  of  duty,  at  least  some  legacy 
of  godly  patience,  from  even  a  discourse  that  is  not  all 
on  fire ;  who  feel  that  hearing  is  not  their  whole  work, 
but  that  they  are  in  the  Assembly  as  in  a  shrine,  to  have 
there  personal  conference  with  God,  and  to  bare  their 
bosoms  to  the  silent  and  mighty  inrush  of  the  Spirit! 

Blessed  are  they  who  do  thus  dwell  in  this  house  of  the 
Lord ;  for  there,  in  more  than  royal  presence,  they  have 
their  home.  The  Almighty  shall  there  reveal  Himself 
to  them.  They  shall  have  views  of  his  power  and 
Himself,  of  his  plan  of  Redemption  and  his  thoughts 
for  the  world,  of  his  might  and  his  grace,  and  his  wis- 
dom to  save,  which,  outside  the  waiting  and  praising 
Assembly,  they  must  search  for  in  vain.  They  come 
there  unto  His  throne  on  earth  ;  and,  to  the  eye  that 
spiritually  discerns,  their  gathering,  humble  though  it 
may  seem,  is  overhung  with  the  terrors,  and  splen- 
dors, and  the  grace  of  the  Infinite  ! — Indeed,  my  friends 
if  we  felt  rightly,  we  should  be  sure  that  no  one  place 
this  side  of  Heaven  is  so  majestic,  precious,  charming, 
as  that  Yvdiere  Christians  meet  the  Lord !  For  what  are 
all  congresses  of  nobles  and  kings  to  this  audience  of 
Him  who  made  the  worlds ;  and  in  the  knowledge  and 
love  of  whom,  as  surely  as  the  soul  is  immortal,  stand- 
eth  for  each  eternal  life  ! 

And,  Secondly,  how  plainly  does  our  subject  sug- 
gest to  us  the  TRUE  USE,  and  the  proper  consideration 
OF  A  House  of  Worship  ;  of  the  edifice  itself,  in  which 
such  Assemblies  of  believers  are  gathered. 

It  is  not  altogether  common,  precisely  like  other 
and  secular  buildings,  a  mere  material,  perishable 
fabric,  to  be  used  and  forgotten.  In  one  sense,  indeed 
it  is  just  this.  It  is  a  building,  like  others,  of  brick  or 
of  stone,  with  the  iron  that  binds  or  the  mortar  that 
cements  them.    It  must  be  patiently  reared,  like  others, 


64  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

by  human  hands.  It  will  decay  as  others  do,  under  the 
influence  of  nature  and  time,  or  by  the  crushing  stroke 
of  casualty.  It  is  a  building  for  a  definite  purpose, 
and  a  means  to  its  accomplishment ;  and  there  is  no 
sacredness  built  in  along  its  courses,  and  no  divine  vir- 
tue distributed  through  its  walls.  We  cannot  say  that 
there  God  is,  except  as  there  His  people  meet. 

But  from  its  purpose,  it  gains  importance.  As  the 
place  where  the  Christian  Assembly  convenes  to  confront 
the  Eternal,  and  where  He  shows  himself  as  He  does  not 
elsewhere,  the  very  building  takes  upon  it  solemnity 
and  impressiveness.  There  becomes  inevitably  associ- 
ated with  it  a  kind  of  sacredness.  It  is  not  common 
and  ordinary  to  one  who  realizes  what  takes  place  with- 
in it.  The  real  theophanies  which  there  have  been  made 
to  humbled,  touched,  believing  spirits,  have  left  the 
traces  to  the  mind,  not  the  eye,  of  a  radiance  supernal 
along  the  arches.  The  experience  of  those  who  have 
there  devoted  themselves  to  God,  and  have  become  His 
sons  and  heirs,  the  children  of  immortal  light,  more 
than  peers  of  the  angelic  powers — this  gives  the  very 
house  an  interest  that  makes  it  seem  to  reflect  a  gleam 
from  the  sapphire  walls !  The  prayers  that  have  been 
uttered  there,  and  that  there  have  brought  back  a  re- 
sponse from  the  skies,  the  thought  of  them  wraps  even 
pillars  and  pews  with  a  palpable  solemnity,  and  a  glo- 
rious beauty.  The  praises  that  there  have  risen  as  in- 
cense, rolling  out  from  full  hearts  that  only  waited  for 
heavenly  harps  to  add  new  triumphs  to  heavenly  choirs, 
they  linger  still,  long  after  their  audible  echoes  have 
passed,  on  the  air  of  the  house.  Their  spirit  speaks 
through  the  pipes  that  are  dumb.  GOD  has  been  there, 
in  manifest  presence,  till  souls  were  bowed  and  bright 
before  Him !     If  the  chiselled  stone  should  cry  out  of 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  65 

the  wall,  and  the  beam  out  of  the  timber  should  an- 
swer it,  their  voices  would  tell  of  the  consciousness  of 
Christians  that  showed  the  Lord  revealed  in  might ;  of 
the  steppings  of  the  Most  High  amid  the  souls  of  the 
worshippers  !  And  as  one  could  not  stand  to-day  upon 
Mount  Sinai — blasted  and  torn  as  its  granite  has  been, 
by  lightning  and  by  earthquake — -without  some  sense 
of  the  solemnity  of  the  place  where  God  descended 
among  His  angels,  so,  in  His  house,  the  thoughtful 
mind  will  feel  itself  solemnized  as  often  as  it  enters. 

The  house  should  therefore  harmonize  in  its  struc- 
ture with  these  associations.  However  simple,  it  should 
yet  be  distinctive ;  not  brilliant  with  color,  and  gaily 
decorated,  yet  not  too  common  and  poor  of  aspect ; 
not  a  place  to  be  confounded  with  multitudes  of  others ; 
lofty,  if  possible,  that  by  the  aspiring  swell  of  its  pil- 
lars it  may  lift  upward  the  thoughts  and  desires;  so 
firm-based  and  solid  that  it  shall  transmit  a  long  his- 
tory of  blessings,  and  gather  associations  with  each 
generation.  It  should  be  kept  for  religious  uses  ;  and 
not  be  opened,  any  further  than  is  necessary,  for  objects 
merely  secular  and  earthly  in  their  relations.  It  should 
be  cherished,  in  the  thoughts  of  the  worshippers,  as  a 
place  set  apart  for  communion  with  the  Highest ;  even 
children  being  trained  to  thus  honor  and  revere  it ;  the 
hat  being  lifted,  and  the  step  becoming  softer,  as  one 
enters  its  courts ;  the  soul  recognizing  in  it  the  very 
beauteous  wondrous  Home,  in  which  it  has  its  nearest 
fellowship  with  Him  whom  the  Universe  cannot  con- 
tain ;  with  Him  before  whom  the  globe  is  an  atom, 
swinging  pendulous  in  the  floods  of  His  light. 

Such  an  edifice  becomes  almost  a  living  source  of 
moral  culture,  of  spiritual  progress,  in  any  community. 
The  hearts  that  turn  to  it  with  affection  and   delight 


66  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

grow  ever  more  numerous  as  the  years  pass  along.  And 
the  mantle  of  roses  and  vines  that  covers  it  does  but 
image  that  thick  array  of  memories  which  God's  great 
record  of  souls  shall  show  hereafter  to  envelope  and 
clothe  it !  It  shall  be  to  many  the  portal  of  Paradise. 
And  yet  always  we  must  remember  that  the  value 
of  the  house  is  not  intrinsic.  It  is  borrowed  from  the 
Assembly,  and  does  not  surpass  or  outlast  that.  That 
is  the  real  Temple,  with  the  still  .present  word,  and  the 
living  Shekinah ;  and  so  each  scene  of  such  Assembly 
takes  dignity  from  it.  The  noblest  edifice,  where  that  is 
not,  is  never  God's  house.  In  Roman  catacombs,  where 
the  hunted  disciples  chanted  their  worship  while  the 
sword  of  the  emperors,  from  Nero  to  Dioclesian,  was 
flaming  above  them,  and  where  they  wrought  on  every 
corner,  and  along  each  narrow  and  darkened  passage, 
the  symbol  of  the  Cross  and  the  monogram,  of  Christ ; 
in  the  clefts  of  the  hills,  where  often  Piedrnontese  and 
Waldensian  believers  met  secretly  for  prayer,  and  read 
God's  word  by  flickering  torches,  whose  blaze  was  re- 
flected from  snow-wreath  and  from  glacier;  among 
the  mossy  glens  of  Scotland,  where  stones  were  the 
benches,  and  the  babble  of  the  brook  gave  the  har- 
mony to  the  song ;  on  the  crest  of  some  fresh  coral 
reef,  or  of  some  crusted  arctic  isle,  where  men  with 
tears  and  prayers  and  praise  lay  down  their  dead ;  on 
the  bleak  coasts  of  Plymouth,  amid  the  shivering  win- 
try pines  that  first  heard  the  war-whoop  exchanged 
for  the  psalm  ;  or  in  the  forests  where  here  was  read 
God's  holy  word  while  still  this  metropolis  was  in  its 
first  germ ;  wherever  the  Assemblies  of  His  people 
have  been,  there  hath  been  still  the  House  of  God ; 
encompassed  by  angels  ;  filled  with  the  Spirit ;  grander 
than  all  the  rock-built  temples;  as  wonderful,  signal, 
as  Tabor  itself! 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  G7 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  where  these  Assemblies 
have  not  been,  no  outward  building  hath  drawn  to  it- 
self God's  favor  and  grace !  Men  have  tried  sometimes 
to  rear  such  buildings,  so  haughty  and  so  charming, 
that  the  Christian  Congregation  should  not  be  needed 
to  make  them  God's  houses.  Aisles  have  been  made  to 
stretch  in  front  their  lofty  march  of  pillars  and  of  roof; 
arches  to  lift,  in  stately  pride,  their  lyric  spring  or 
rhythmic  round,  with  wreathing  monuments  clustered 
upon  them ;  windows  to  blush  in  every  tint  that  can 
brightly  set  forth  a  Christian  fact ;  and  towers  to  soar, 
aerial,  mighty,  as  if  they  vv^ould  carry  on  their  lofty 
aspiration  the  very  soul  to  the  skies ; — and  then  great 
musical  artists  have  been  brought  to  make  the  edifice 
resound  with  their  triumph ;  and  the  masters  of  color 
have  vied  with  the  experts  in  architecture  and  song, 
suspending  along  the  massive  walls  their  rarest  tro- 
phies, and  making  the  cathedral  the  magnificent  the- 
atre of  their  rich  art ; — and  all  hath  not  made  it  the 
House  of  the  Lord!  Never  by  art  or  skill  of  man  doth 
it  become  such ;  never  by  splendid  and  orderly  conse- 
cration. Only  by  the  meeting  of  the  Christian  Assem- 
bly within  those  walls  are  they  dignified  by  another 
relation  to  God  than  that  which  they  had  when  they 
lay  in  the  quarry ;  or  that  which  they  shall  have  when 
violence  or  time  hath  again  thrown  them  down ! 

Oh  ye,  my  friends,  who  have  reared  this  House,  so 
tasteful,  ample,  beautiful  as  it  is,  symmetrical  in  pro- 
portion, replete  with  all  the  appliances  of  convenience, 
who  look  to-day  with  joy  and  thankfulness  on  your 
work  done,  and  who  set  it  apart  with  prayer  and  with 
song  as  an  offering  to  God — remember  that  ye  are  the 
temple  after  all,  amid  which  God  walks  if  He  walks 
here  at  all,   within  which  He  dwells  if  He  hath  here 


68  THE    ASSEMBLY    OF    CHRISTIANS 

a  dwelling  !  Oh,  then,  become  yourselves  a  Temple, 
better,  grander,  more  charming,  more  precious,  than 
this  ye  have  reared !  Let  your  confirmed,  exalted  souls 
be  nobler  than  its  walls ;  your  graces  of  character  more 
lovely  than  its  colors ;  your  purposes  more  high,  your 
hopes  more  steadfast,  than  its  rock-based  and  rising 
tower!  Let  no  defective  beams  or  pillars  be  found 
among  you ;  fair  outwardly  in  aspect,  but  eaten  through 
inwardly  with  the  dry-rot  of  selfishness !  Let  no  one 
stone,  in  all  this  living,  spiritual  edifice,  be  imperfectly 
cemented  in  the  fellowship  of  faith  !  Let  no  Assembly 
ever  meet  here,  of  which  you  shall  not  be  able  to  say 
as  you  go  hence,  "Lo,  that  was  holy;  for  God  was 
there !  "  So  shall  you  be  indeed  a  temple  of  God's 
own  building!  And  so  shall  this,  your  outward  house, 
become  to  you  more  precious  ever,  with  every  babe 
baptized  here,  and  every  supper  celebrated  here,  with 
every  soul  converted  to  God,  and  every  prayer  that 
gains  His  blessing ;  till  you  are  called  to  go  up  higher ! 
There  all  such  buildings  and  services  will  be  ended, 
being  needed  no  more !  It  is  the  grand  felicity  of 
Heaven, — and  this  is  the  remark  with  which  I  close — 
it  is  the  fact  which  opens  more  brightly  before  our 
thoughts  than  almost  any  other  its  ineffable  glory 
that  there  no  Temple  shall  be  needed ;  for  there,  at 
last,  we  shall  see  God.  We  shall  be  filled  with  all  His 
fulness ;  shall  be  partakers  of  His  own  nature !  The 
Assembly,  it  shall  be  perpetual  there ;  the  great  con- 
gregation of  the  ransomed  First-Born !  The  glory  of 
God,  it  shall  flood  every  soul,  and  dwell  within  it  in 
constant  brightness  !  And  so  the  Universe  shall  become 
to  us  a  Temple  !  Omnipresence  itself  shall  there  be 
our  shrine !  Oh  what  a  heisrht  of  liberation  and  attain- 
ment  is  revealed  to  us  in  this  I  What  a  change  in  our 


THE    TEMPLE    OF    GOD.  69 

state !  What  a  change  in  our  powers !  And  how  do  all 
the  lesser  images,  the  golden  streets,  the  gates  of  pearl, 
the  thrones  of  jasper,  crystal  seas — how  do  these  in- 
stantly fade  and  fail  before  this  great  illustrious  fact ; 
that  there  the  Lord  becomes  the  Temple,  and  we  no 
longer  need  another! — God  help  us  now  to  use  aright 
these  lower  shrines,  and  then  to  enter  that  grand  sphere 
where  all  abroad  we  meet  His  glory,  unveiled,  supreme, 
in  perfect  light ;  and  unto  Him  be  all  the  praise ! 


III. 


PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL  THE  GRAX 
FUNCTION  OF  THE  JIINISTER. 


V 
JOSEPH  P.  THOMPSON,  D.  D., 

PASTOE  07  THE  BEOADWAY  TABERNACLE  CHUEOII,  if.  -J. 


SERMON". 


Christ  sent  me  not  to  haptize,  hut  to  preach  the  Gospel  :  not 
with  tvisdom  of  tvords,  lest  the  Cross  of  Christ  should  he  made  of 
none  effect.  For  the  preaching  of  the  Cross  is  to  them  that  perish, 
foolishness  ;  hut  unto  us  which  are  saved,  it  is  the  power  of  God, — 
1  Cor.  i:17,  18. 

"  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preacTi  the 
Gospel;" — but  did  not  Christ  himself  say,  in  his  last 
command,  "  Go,  teach  all  nations,  haj)tizing  them  m  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  ?"  And  would  Paul  undervalue  that  ordinance 
which  is  a  symbol  of  the  Christian  faith,  which  Christ 
himself  instituted,  and  associated  with  preaching,  in 
the  mission  of  his  disciples  to  all  the  world  ? 

"  Not  with  wisdom  of  speech  ;" — but  did  not  Christ, 
when  he  sent  forth  his  disciples  as  preachers,  bid  them 
"  be  tuise  as  serpents  ?"  And  does  not  Paul  elsewhere 
speak  of  his  own  preaching  as  "warning  every  man 
and  teaching  every  man  in  all  luisdom  ?  "  Did  he  mean 
to  disparage  that  philosophical  habit  of  thought,  that 
dialectic  skill,  that  rhetorical  glow  and  rhythm,  that 
union  of  Hebraistic  and  Grecian  culture,  which  render- 
ed his  own  mind,  when  renovated  and  purified  by  the 
6 


74  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

Spirit,  the  fittest  mould  in  which  to  run  the  great  ar- 
gument of  the  Gospel  for  all  after  times  ? 

Paul  undervalues  neither  the  ordinances  and  liturgy 
of  Christianity,  nor  the  tidaptation  of  philosophy  and 
of  art  to  its  service;  the  Symbolical,  the  Liturgical, 
the  Esthetic,  the  Philosophical,  the  Rhetorical,  have 
each  their  place.  He  extols  the  office  of  preaching  re- 
latively, but  not  exclusively  ;  this,  and  not  ordinances ; 
this,  and  not  speculative  philosophy  ;  this,  and  not 
the  forms  of  worship  or  the  arts  of  speech,  constituted 
the  stress  of  his  mission  as  an  apostle.  "  Christ  sent 
me  not  to  bajDtize,  but  to  preach  the  Gospel ;" — that 
which  He  put  foremost  in  my  commission  was  not  the 
administration  of  the  symbols  of  his  grace,  but  the 
proclamation  of  that  grace  itself,  through  his  Cross. 

The  fact  or  principle  which  underlies  this  declara- 
tion is,  that  Preaching  tJie  Gospel  is  the  'preeminent  and 
comprehensive  function  of  the  Christian  ministry  • — the 
agency  for  propagating  Christianity^  to  which  all  else 
is  subordinate  and  subsidiary. 

Let  us  endeavor,  therefore,  to  fix  the  relative  value 
of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  those  various 
accessories  of  Christianity  which  contribute  to  its  illus- 
tration, to  its  difiusion,  or  to  its  permanent  embodiment 
as  a  system  of  belief  and  worship ;  and  also,  to  ascer- 
tain what  are  those  qualities  and  forces  which  give  to 
preaching  its  preeminence  for  maintaining  and  extend- 
ing Christianity  in  the  Avorld.  With  a  view  to  such  a 
contrast,  the  accessories  of  Christianity  may  be  grouped 
under  the  Symbolical,  the  Ritualistic,  and  the  Esthetic. 

I.  Of  the  Symbolical.  We  cannot  deny  that  this 
belongs  to  the  Christian  system,  since  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  were  instituted  by  Christ  himself  a§  per- 
petual symbols  of  his  doctrine  and  work.     Neither  can 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE   MINISTER.  75 

we  deny  the  moral  value  of  symbols  for  instruction 
and  edification,  unless  we  would  repudiate  the  testi- 
mony of  our  own  natures,  and  the  concurrent  testimony 
of  the  religions  of  all  mankind,  and  impeach  the  wis- 
dom of  Him,  who  through  ages  indoctrinated  by  sym- 
bols the  Jewish  mind  to  comprehend  the  atoning  sac- 
rifice of  Christ.  The  well-appointed  symbol,  at  once 
expressive  and  suggestive,  conveys  to  the  heart  through 
the  eye  and  the  imagination,  the  truth  which  the  doc- 
trinal formula  offers  to  the  reason.  The  poet  and  the 
painter,  the  priest  and  the  pi'ophet,  preach  by  symbol. 
As  you  wander  by  torchlight  through  the  vast  and  in- 
tricate corridors  of  Death,  which  the  pride  and  the 
faith  of  Egypt  combined  to  excavate  in  the  rocks  of 
her  deserts,  you  read  upon  their  pictured  and  sculp- 
tured walls  a  language  that  speaks  to  you  of  life,  of 
death,  and  of  immortality.  For  when,  having  traced  the 
occupant  of  a  tomb  through  the  pictorial  history  of 
his  life  and  the  impiessive  incidents  of  death,  having 
seen  the  departed  soul  transported  in  the  sacred  boat 
across  the  lake,  and  there  cut  off  from  all  communica- 
tion with  this  world,  you  behold  above  the  sarcopha- 
gus the  radiant  and  winged  globe,  you  feel  that  here 
is  the  prophetic  hope  of  ages  uttered  through  the  sub- 
lime symbol  of  immortality.  Your  nature  responds  to 
the  thought  and  the  hope  which  the  hand  of  the  sculp- 
tor carved  in  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  before  Abraham 
went  clown  into  Egypt. 

As  you  go  back  in  imagination,  and  stand  by  the 
side  of  Abel  as  he  offers  up  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  a 
sacrifice ;  as  you  stand  a2:ain  by  the  altar  of  burnt  of- 
fering which  Noah  built  upon  the  earth  just  purified 
by  the  flood  ;  as  you  go  up  with  the  Father  of  the  Faith- 
ful and  the  child  of  promise,  from  Hebron  to  Moriah, 


76  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

and  there  see  Abraham  bind  his  Isaac  upon  the  altar ; 
as  again,  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  you  see  Aaron  in 
his  anointed  robes,  offering  ever  the  same  sacrifice  of 
the  lamb ;  as  yet  once  more,  you  stand  in  the  porch  of 
Solomon's  Temple,  on  the  great  day  of  atonement,  and 
see  the  High  Priest,  with  reverent  tread,  go  up  to  the 
Holy  of  Holies  with  this  same  oblation  ;  you  feel  that 
this  mute  victim,  all  unconscious  of  its  high  intent, 
preaches  Christ  crucified,  to  take  away  your  sins. 

You  may  not  say  that  since  this  symbolic  sacrifice 
has  been  interpreted  and  superseded  by  the  death 
of  Christ,  it  has  no  longer  any  meaning  for  you ;  that 
the  Old  Testament  is  of  value  only  in  its  historical,  de- 
votional, and  prophetic  parts ;  for  the  ceremonial  law 
and  the  typical  sacrifice  interpret  to  us  the  work  of 
Christ,  even  as  his  death  consummated  their  meaning ; 
and  these  prepared  a  language^  without  which  the  doc- 
trine of  Atonement  could  never  have  been  preached. 
Now  that  this  language,  run  into  the  mould  of  symbols 
repeated  age  after  age,  has  incorporated  itself  with 
human  thought  and  speech,  those  antique  symbolic 
moulds  can  be  set  aside.  Yet  must  we  needs  preserve 
them  in  the  historical  museum  of  our  faith,  that  we 
may  trace  and  verify  the  ideas  to  which  they  have 
given  shape. 

One  of  the  most  curious  discoveries  of  Egyptology 
is  the  transition  from  hieroglyphics  to  popular  writing. 
The  hieroglyphic,  which  began  in  pure  picture-writ- 
ing, was  the  language  of  symbols ;  it  gave  pictures 
of  ideas,  and  the  art  was  said  to  have  been  derived 
from  the  gods  themselves.  It  was  known  as  the  sacred 
writing,  and  its  key  was  with  the  priests.  Gradually 
the  symbols  were  made  expressive  of  sound,  and  ceased 
to  be  regarded  as  mere  pictures.     This  widened  the 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  77 

domain  of  thought  as  represented  by  the  hieroglyphics  ; 
and  with  this  came  such  changes  of  form,  as  gradually 
reduced  the  old  sculptured  pictures  of  ideas  to  a  cur- 
rent handwriting  of  words.  The  same  lists  of  kings 
sculptured  on  ancient  monuments,  are  repeated  in 
written  characters  in  the  papyrus  roll  now  at  Turin  ; 
and  these  royal  lists,  laid  side  by  side,  illustrate  the 
transition  from  symbols  to  words.  The  Old  Testament 
is  the  hieroglyphic  alphabet  of  the  New,  which  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  has  translated  for  us,  carrying 
over  its  sacred  thoughts  into  our  common  speech. 

But  while  through  the  perfecting  of  a  language  for 
Christianity,  the  use  of  symbols  is  greatly  reduced  and 
modified,  Christianity  does  not  wholly  dispense  with 
that  power  of  teaching  which  lies  in  the  relation  of 
symbols  to  the  eye  and  the  imagination.  The  Old 
Testament  alphabet  was  written  largely  in  letters  of 
fire  and  blood.  The  New  Testament  has  a  symbolic 
language  in  letters  of  gold,  the  meaning  of  Avhich  it 
hath  not  entered  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  The 
New  Jerusalem,  the  sea  of  glass,  the  river  of  life,  the 
tree  of  life,  the  sapphire  walls,  the  gates  of  pearl,  the 
harps  and  crowns  of  gold,  can  we  interpret  these  till 
we  have  learned  that  "new  name,"  and  are  equal  to  the 
angels  in  knowledge  and  in  joy  ?  Let  us  not  throw 
away  our  alphabet  too  soon,  lest  we  lose  the  very  key 
of  our  faith. 

But  Christianity  in  its  administration  also  has  its 
symbols — the  mute  but  eloquent  and  impressive  teach- 
ers of  its  doctrine.  This  alphabet  has  only  two  letters, 
but  these  are  Alpha  and  Omega.  Baptism,  "  not  the 
literal  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the 
answer  of  a  good  conscience  towards  God,"  which 
makes  the  water  the  figure  of  our  salvation  ;  and  that 


78  PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

Sacred  Supper  wherein  we  "  show  forth  the  Lord's 
death  till  he  come."  Our  faith  does  not  stand  in  or- 
dinances ;  but  rightly  viewed,  these  ordinances  of 
Christ  are  exponents  and  teachers  of  that  faith. 

When  Mr.  Webster  stood  on  Bunker  Hill  to  com- 
memorate the  completion  of  that  monument  whose 
corner-stone  he  had  laid  a  quarter  of  a  century  before, 
and  tens  of  thousands  thronged  around  him  expectant 
of  an  eloquence  equal  to  his  fame,  he  gazed  long  and 
solemnly  upon  the  granite  shaft,  and  then  broke  silence 
with  these  words :  "  It  is  not  from  my  lips,  it  could  not 
be  from  any  human  lips,  that  that  strain  of  eloquence 
is  this  day  to  flow  most  competent  to  move  and  excite 
the  vast  multitude  around  me.  The  powerful  speaker 
stands  motionless  before  us."  And  were  it  so  that  the 
eloquence  which  began  to  flow  from  this  pulpit  this 
morning'"'  should  never  cease,  yet  the  most  eloquent 
and  impressive  sermons  must  ever  come  from  that 
Table  where  before  your  eyes,  in  the  broken  bread 
and  the  cup  poured  out,  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  "  evi- 
dently set  forth,  crucified  among  you." 

But  it  is  only  as  connected  with  Christ  and  his 
Gospel  that  these  symbols  have  any  value  or  signifi- 
cance ;  and  therefore  should  the  administration  of  ordi- 
nances be  kept  subordinate  to  the  proclamation  of 
truth.  Sacramental  virtue  they  have  none ;  their  moral 
power  for  edification  lies  in  their  perceived  relation  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ.  Separate  from  this  they  are  a 
priestly  mummery.  Therefore  the  order  of  commis- 
sion to  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  is  not  first  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  in  order  to  Christ,  but  first 
Christ  received  by  faith  for  the  soul's  renewal  and  re- 

*  Hc/e  Professor  Park's  Sermon. 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  79 

clemption,  the  water  of  Baptism  signifying  and  sealing 
that  renewal,  the  Lord's  Supper  commemorating  that 
redemption  and  ratifying  its  covenant. 

How  little  these  ordinances  alone  can  avail  for  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  the  whole  Eastern  world,  bur- 
dened with  the  decay  of  ceremonial  churches,  bears 
witness.  When  has  the  pomp  of  Sacraments  in  the 
Greek,  Latin,  and  Armenian  Churches  attracted  a 
Moslem  to  embrace  Christianity  ?  When  has  Turk  or 
Fellah  in  Egypt  been  converted  to  the  ordinances  of 
the  Copt?  Vain  the  chrism  of  baptism  prepared  and 
applied  by  consecrated  hands ;  vain  the  mass  by  stoled 
priest,  with  measured  chaunt,  and  tinkling  bell,  and 
swinging  censer;  Turk  and  Arab  mutter  "idolater," 
and  "  unbelieving  dog."  But  when  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  circulated  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  mission- 
aries of  the  Cross  have  gained  a  hearing,  the  converted 
Moslem  comes  with  the  enlightened  and  regenerated 
Armenian  and  Greek,  to  be  baptized  into  one  faith,  and 
to  sit  at  one  table,  remembering  and  confessing  Christ. 
The  Jesuit  missionaries  baptized  by  thousands  the  In- 
dians of  this  continent,  and  erected  crosses  by  every 
road  and  wigwam  ;  but  the  war-whoop  still  summoned 
hostile  tribes,  and  the  scalping  knife  offered  bloody 
sacrifices  to  the  Great  Spirit.  But  wherever  Eliot, 
and  Brainerd,  and  Edwards,  and  their  successors  in 
this  apostleship,  have  won  the  hearts  of  the  Red  man 
to  Christ,  there  the  sacraments  of  the  Gospel  have  been 
the  sacraments  of  peace,  and  the  regeneration  of  the 
heart  has  led  to  the  civilization  of  the  tribe.  Where 
truth  is  present  to  the  soul,  the  symbol  may  serve  to 
embody  and  transmit  it — as  the  Heavenly  Dove  that 
conveyed  the  Holy  Spirit  to  Jesus  at  his  baptism,  still 
hovers  in   the  breath  of  sacred  song.     But  symbols 


80  PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

without  the  truth  stifle  the  Gospel  iu  a  "prisoned 
pomp ;" — a  religion  of  baptisms  is  at  best  a  baptized 
Paganism.  Wherefore,  "  Christ  sent  me  not  to  bap- 
tize, but  to  preach  the  Gospel." 

The  same  relative  position  must  be  assigned  to  the 
Liturgical  and  the  Esthetic^  in  reference  to  Christian- 
ity. These  have  a  positive  value  so  long  as  they  are 
held  in  a  strictly  normal  place  and  use.  While  kept 
subordinate  to  the  Gospel  they  are  also  subsidiarij. 
We  cannot  worship  in  an  orderly  manner  without  a 
Liturgy  ;  a  formula  of  worship  understood  in  the  con- 
gregation. If,  when  we  come  together,  "  every  one 
hath  a  psalm,  hath  a  doctrine,  hath  a  tongue,  hath  a  rev- 
elation, hath  an  interpretation," — this  is  not  worship 
but  confusion,  and  "  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion, 
but  of  peace,  as  in  all  Churches  [or  assemblies]  of  the 
saints.  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order." 
But  the  scope  and  richness  of  the  Christian  Liturgy 
cannot  be  restricted  within  any  one  form  of  human 
composition.  In  this  Liturgy  we  pray  as  our  Lord 
hath  taught  us,  and  we  appropriate  to  our  circumstan- 
ces and  wants  the  prayers  of  Abraham,  and  Moses,  and 
David,  and  Solomon,  and  Isaiah,  and  Daniel,  and  Peter, 
and  John,  and  the  recorded  utterances  of  pious  hearts 
in  all  ages,  and  that  which  is  indited  within  us  by  the 
Spirit  sent  forth  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abha^  Father. 
The  whole  range  of  devotional  expression,  written  and 
unwritten,  is  before  us  when  we  join  "  with  one  ac- 
cord in  prayer  and  supplication."  Our  Christian  Lit- 
urgy embraces  also  the  Psalms  of  David,  and  of  Moses 
the  man  of  God;  the  hymns,  ascriptions,  and  rhyth- 
mical sentences  of  apostles,  and  martyrs,  and  confes- 
sors; the  hymns  of  all  ages  brought  together  "for 
the  service  of  sons:  in  the  house  of  the  Lord."     And 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  81 

with  these  prayers  and  hymns,  and  the  whole  Scrip- 
tures open  to  us  for  selection  and  adaptation,  we 
have  a  Liturgy,  which  in  scope,  in  beauty,  in  simplicity, 
and  in  sublimity,  is  unrivalled  by  that  of  any  other 
religion.  Such  a  Liturgy,  arranged  by  rule  or  usage 
in  its  several  parts,  answers  our  sense  of  propriety  in 
the  worship  of  God,  and  the  Divine  canon  of  wor- 
ship, "  Let  all  things  be  done  to  edifying."  It  is  an 
adjunct  of  Christianity  itself 

But  when  the  form  of  worship  is  made  the  thing  of 
chief  account,  when  to  read  or  say  the  prayer,  to  hear 
or  sing  the  tune,  is  regarded  as  of  the  essence  of  wor- 
ship, then  Religion  degenerates  into  Ritualism,  and  has 
no  more  vitality.  The  word  of  God  overlaid  with  tra- 
ditions of  men,  is  made  of  none  effect. 

We  may  not  deny  that  the  Esthetic^  as  well  as  the 
Symbolical  and  Liturgical,  has  its  uses  in  religion,  unless 
we  would  affirm  that  all  taste  is  sinful,  and  that  God 
has  given  us  the  sense  of  beauty  only  as  a  snare.  \Ye 
may  not  deny  the  fitness  of  art  in  connection  with 
worship,  unless  we  would  impeach  the  wisdom  of  Him 
who  made  in  the  mount  the  pattern  of  the  Tabernacle, 
and  who  hallowed  the  temple  of  Solomon  with  his 
glory.  The  ceremonial  sacredness  of  place  no  longer 
exists  under  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  The  wor- 
ship of  Cameronian  and  Pilgrim,  under  the  open  sky, 
was  even  more  sublime  and  more  reverent  before 
God,  than  the  cathedral  service  in  full  choir.  Doubt- 
less God  may  be  acceptably  worshipped  in  a  barn  ;  but 
it  is  not  for  us  to  worship  in  a  barn,  unless  we  are 
willing  also  to  sleep  in  a  manger.  The  house  cannot 
sanctify  the  worship,  but  the  spirit  of  piety  will  not 
be  careless  of  the  place  appropriated  to  the  public 
worship  of  God.     If  taste  and  devotion  can  here  com- 


82  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

bine,  if  the  feeling  of  reverence  and  the  -  sense  of 
beauty  can  find  a  common  home  and  a  common  ex- 
pression in  the  place  of  worship,  Religion  is  thereby 
helped,  not  hindered.  The  feeling  which  opposes 
this  or  that  style  of  architecture,  this  or  that  form  of 
adaptation  in  a  house  of  worship,  may  be  as  truly  a 
superstition  as  is  the  feeling  which  invests  that  form 
with  sanctity.  The  Ecclesiologist  and  the  Iconoclast 
may  here  meet  together.  The  religion  which  worships 
the  walls,  and  the  religion  which  cannot  worship  with- 
in them,  are  alike  dead — the  one  petrified  by  means  of 
stone,  the  other  petrified  through  fear  of  stone.  Hap- 
py is  that  combination  in  architecture,  of  the  sentiment 
of  devotion  and  an  elevated  taste,  which  enables  rfs  to 
say  :  "  Our  holy  and  beautiful  house;"  and  shall  lead 
our  children  to  say,  "  Our  holy  and  our  beautiful 
house,  where  our  fathers  j^rmsec?  Tliee^ 

Whatever  in  art  or  in  other  externals  is  normal  and 
of  true  value,  Christianity  appropriates  and  subordi- 
nates to  its  own  uses.  Whatever  is  perverted  or  ex- 
treme, or  would  be  made  supreme  as  an  end,  it  re- 
jects. Ritual  and  architecture  are  valuable  in  religion 
only  as  they  are  the  outgrowth  of  the  religious  faith 
and  sentiment  of  a  people  themselves,  and  are  strictly 
subordinated  to  that  faith  and  sentiment.  They  cannot 
be  used  as  converting  ordinances,  either  for  perpetuat- 
ing Christianity  or  for  propagating  it  in  new  regions. 
Christian  worship  began  in  the  Synagogue,  the  porch 
of  the  Temple,  the  Upper  Chamber,  appropriating  to 
itself  whatever  lay  open  around  it.  Driven  thence 
into  caves  and  catacombs,  it  there  worshipped  God  out 
of  the  deeps.  Emerging  from  this  obscurity  to  be 
recognized  and  protected  by  the  State,  it  appropriated 
the   Basilica,  built  for   civic  purposes,  rejecting  only 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  83 

buildings  ^Yl^ich  had  the  associations  of  idolatiy. 
And  from  this  point  it  advanced  to  the  control  of  all 
art  for  its  own  service.  But,  meantime,  Ritualism  had 
overshadowed  the  Gospel,  and  Ly  degrees  a  Church 
architecture  adapted  for  ritualistic  exhibition,  over- 
shadowed the  Church  and  its  worship.  But  you  can 
no  more  perpetuate  Christianity  by  an  architecture 
which  has  usurped  its  place,  than  you  can  perpetuate 
the  life  of  a  man  by  building  his  effigy  in  granite  for 
his  sepulchre.  You  can  no  more  perpetuate  a  living 
church  by  the  mere  cost  you  pay  for  its  material  home, 
than  you  can  perpetuate  the  free  and  noble  spirit  of 
Washington  by  paying  the  slave-trader's  price  for  his 
bones. 

There  is  no  vital  force  in  the  merely  esthetic  ele- 
ment, to  carry  forth  the  Gosj^el  into  new  regions. 
Church  architecture  must  invest  a  living  Church,  and 
when  that  Church  dies,  the  material  structure  is  but  a 
mausoleum.  In  a  suburb  of  Thebes,  is  a  temple  of 
the  old  Egyptian  worship,  in  remarkable  preservation. 
Its  sculptured  divinities  still  hold  their  court  where 
they  have  held  it  for  four  thousand  years.  Its  mute 
priests  graven  in  the  stone  seem  still  to  offer  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Pharaohs.  Within  the  area  of  this  temjDle 
are  the  pillars  of  a  church,  which  in  the  fourth  century 
of  our  era,  was  here  erected  in  visible  triumph  over 
the  old  idolatry.  But  Pharaoh  and  Cassar  have  passed 
away,  and  the  rites  of  temple  and  church  have  long 
ago  ceased.  And  now  what  effect  has  the  architecture 
of  ages  gone,  upon  the  Moslem  Arabs  of  the  neighbor- 
ing village  ?  Are  they  awed  by  the  dim  mysteries  of 
Iris  and  Osiris  which  those  temple-walls  recall  ?  Are 
they  attracted  to  the  faith  of  Constantino  by  the  Greek 
pillars  of  the  falling  church  ?     They  worship  Allah  in 


84  PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

a  rude  mud  mosque,  tliey  pay  their  reverence  at  the 
plastered  tomb  of  a  sheik,  and  use  the  fragments  of 
church  and  temple  to  build  their  hovels.  What  lesson 
of  religion  does  the  Parthenon,  all  glorious  in  its  ruin, 
teach  the  Athenian  of  to-day  ?  Does  the  perfect  art 
of  Phidias  and  the  lavish  taste  of  Pericles,  win  any  to 
the  worship  of  Minerva  ?  The  Parthenon,  upon  which 
Socrates,  and  Demosthenes,  and  Paul  had  successively 
looked,  is  a  crumbling  quarry  of  art ;  but  the  voices 
of  Demosthenes  and  Paul  still  speak  from  the  Bema 
and  the  Areopagus,  and  the  heroic  virtue  of  Socrates 
utters  itself  from  his  prison  in  that  rock.  Not  even  the 
wizard  wand  of  Scott  could  give  life  again  to  Melrose 
and  Holyrood,  or  make  them  other  than  moonlit  sepul- 
chres, with  flitting  shadows  of  their  ancient  faith ; 
but  the  preaching  of  John  Knox  still  stirs  the  heart  of 
Scotland,  and  gives  vitality  to  her  religion. 

Art  made  subordinate  to  a  living  faith  and  express- 
ing that  faith  in  forms  of  truth  and  beauty,  has  a  ser- 
vice for  religion  which  we  may  not  despise.  But  the 
faith  departed,  or  become  inoperative,  the  service  of 
art  is  also  gone.  It  can  neither  perpetuate  religion 
nor  recall  it  to  life ;  and  neither  upon  its  native  soil 
nor  reproduced  in  other  lands,  neither  in  its  own  gen- 
eration nor  in  those  that  follow  after,  can  it  do  aught 
to  teach  the  truth  it  once  embodied.  Wherefore  Christ 
sent  me  not  to  build  tabernacles,  even  after  the  pattern 
shown  in  the  mount,  not  to  observe  a  ritual  like  that 
o'iven  to  Aaron,  not  to  administer  the  sacraments  even 
of  the  New  Covenant,  not  to  make  religious  art,  or 
religious  services,  or  religious  ordinances  an  end  to  be 
attained,  or  an  essential  part  of  religion  ; — but  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  Neither  Ecclesiology,  nor  Rubric- 
ism, nor  Ritualism  should  be  the  study  and  theme  of 


THE    GEAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  00 

the  minister  of  Christ,  but    Christ   himself  and   Him 
crucified. 

II,  Such  being  the  established  preeminence  of 
preaching  above  all  the  accessories  of  Christianity  as  a 
system,  we  are  prepared  to  estimate  those  qualities  and 
forces  which  give  to  the  preached  Gospel  this  grand 
distinction  in  the  Redeemer's  plan  for  the  renovation 
of  the  world. 

(1.)  Tlie  Gosjjel  takes  hold  upon  the  innermost  forces 
of  our  heing,  tvith  the  most  intimate  and  comprehensive 
adaptation  and  control  •  and  the  Gospel  meets  our  inner- 
most necessities^  luith  the  most  circumstantial  and  ade- 
qucde  supp)ly.  Ordinances,  Liturgy,  Art,  approach  the 
soul  through  outward  form  and  expression,  speaking 
to  the  eye  and  the  ear.  These  kindle  a  fire  of  devotion 
round  about  the  man,  seeking  to  encompass,  and  so  to 
pervade  him  with  its  warmth.  But  the  Gospel  addresses 
at  once  i\\^ersonalitij  of  the  man,  which  alone  is  per- 
manent. It  brings  into  the  soul,  though  it  be  dead, 
the  truth  which  makes  alive.  The  word  of  God  enter- 
inginto  the  heart,  becomes  a  burning  fire  in  the  bones; 
every  fibre  of  the  being  is  made  alive  with  it;  and 
though  all  outward  accessories  and  appliances  of  re- 
ligion should  fail,  and  the  outer  man  perish  in  every 
susceptibility  to  external  influences,  this  truth  within 
would  live  by  its  own  recuperative  power,  and  would 
give  the  inner  man  strength  day  by  day.  Said  the 
little  Sabbath-school  girl,  when  her  Catholic  parents, 
instigated  by  the  priest,  had  forbidden  her  the  school, 
and  had  taken  away  her  New  Testament :  "  You  cannot 
take  away  from  me  the  verses  that  I  have  learned,  nor 
the  Saviour  I  have  in  my  heart."  The  pomp  of  cere- 
mony, the  sacramental  virtues  of  the  Church  in  which 
she  was  born,  had  failed  to  teach,  to  guide,  to  sanctify, 


86  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

that  tender  soul.  But  the  Grospel  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, entering  her  heart,  had  made  that  a  temple 
where  Christ  dwelt,  and  in  that  inner  temple  she  could 
worship  without  book,  or  altar,  or  priest.  Said  an  aged 
believer,  whom  the  world  would  pity,  "  I  have  lost  all 
my  property,  I  have  lost  my  hearing,  I  have  lost  my 
sight,  my  wife  is  dead,  my  only  son  is  dead,  I  am  all 
alone  in  the  world,  but  Christ  is  with  me  and  I  am 
happy."  Tastes  will  differ;  forms  lose  their  power 
by  familiarity,  or  our  perception  and  imagination  grow 
dim  and  obtuse  with  years  ; — but  the  truth  of  the  Gos- 
pel received  into  the  heart,  will  beat  and  glow  when 
sight  and  sound  and  taste  are  gone. 

The  Gospel,  in  the  nature  of  its  truths,  as  moral 
and  spiritual,  brings  its  approj^riate  aliment  to  the  soul 
as  the  offspring  of  God.  The  hand  of  art  reaches  only 
the  outer  surface  of  the  soul,  touching  and  polishing 
its  sensibilities  ;  it  builds  the  case  of  the  organ,  and 
carves  and  polishes  it,  and  adorns  it  with  show-pipes 
of  silver  or  gold ;  but  this  gives  forth  no  music  at  the 
dedication. "^^  The  hand  of  the  master  must  voice  those 
pipes,  and  put  into  the  case  an  action  which  shall  cause 
it  to  utter  all  divine  harmonies.  Of  what  worth  were 
the  most  elaborately  finished  case,  if  there  were  no 
organ  to  fill  it  ?  Wherefore,  in  tuning  the  soul  for  God, 
we  must  seek  not  first  the  washing  and  polishing  of  the 
outward,  but  the  forming  of  that  which  is  within.  This 
the  Gospel  is  designed  to  effect.  For  the  truths  which 
it  brings  are  not  only  adapted  to  the  spiritual  nature 
of  the  soul,  but  they  are  truths  of  the  grandest  import, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  most  vital  and  personal  w^ith 
which  man  can  have  to  do.     The  Gospel  brings  God 

*  The  Oman  was  unfinislied  at  the  dedication  of  the  Tabernacle. 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  87 

before  the  soul  in  the  highest  manifestation  which  He 
has  made  of  himself  to  man.  Not  the  fiery  cloud  of 
Sinai,  nor  the  Shekinah  in  the  Temple,  nor  any  of  the 
Theophanies  of  the  Old  Testament  could  reveal  God, 
or  do  more  than  represent  Him  by  symbol ;  but  in  the 
Gospel,  God  is  manife-stm  the  flesh;  we  see  his  glory, 
full  of  grace  and  truth ;  we  hear  his  voice ;  we  behold 
every  attribute  of  his  character ;  and  we  find  Him  thus 
revealing  himself  upon  matters  of  infinite  concern- 
ment to  us.  And  what  can  lay  hold  upon  the  soul 
with  a  power  so  vital  and  controlling  as  the  thought  of  a 
present  God  speaking  to  it  of  His  holiness  and  its  own 
guilt;  of  His  law  and  its  transgressions;  of  His  com- 
ing judgment  and  its  eternal  destiny  ;  of  His  grace 
to  take  away  its  sin  and  avert  its  condemnation  ? 

Herein  the  Gospel  speaks  to  every  soul  alike,  and 
it  meets  every  faculty  and  susceptibility  of  the  soul. 
With  its  eternal  law  reiterated  by  Christ  with  most 
inward  application  ;  its  eternal  sanctions  of  blessedness 
for  the  holy  and  of  sorrow  for  the  wicked ;  and  its  amaz- 
ing sacrifice  to  honor  the  law  while  saving  the  guilty, 
it  satisfies  that  sense  of  justice  which  lingers  in  the 
most  rude  and  barbarous  mind.  In  the  character  of 
God,  an  infinite  yet  personal  spirit,  all-holy  and  almighty, 
it  presents  that  majesty  which  alone  can  meet  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul  toward  the  illimitably  great  and 
good.  In  the  character  of  Christ,  it  meets  the  senti- 
ments of  truth  and  honor,  and  the  sense  of  beauty, 
transcendent  in  moral  purity,  which  lead  forth  the  soul 
in  homage  to  the  true,  the  beautiful  and  the  good.  In 
the  precepts  and  doctrines  of  Christ,  it  meets  the  thirst 
of  the  soul  for  knowled2:e,  and  its  conscious  need  of  a 
teacher  from  above.  By  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
Christ,  and  with  his  proffered   grace,  the  Gospel  meets 


88  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

that  sense  of  guilt  which  burdens  every  soul,  and  that 
yearning  after  reconciliation  with  God,  which  has  cov- 
ered the  earth  with  altars  and  watered  it  with  tears. 
With  its  promise  of  the  life  everlasting,  the  Gospel 
satisfies  that  longing  after  immortality,  with  which  the 
soul  in  all  ages  has  struggled  against  the  mystery  ot 
death.  Above  all,  in  the  love  which  it  brings  and  the 
love  which  it  evokes,  the  Gospel  meets  the  sighing  of 
every  soul  for  a  peace  that  cannot  be  shaken.  Even 
Goethe,  who  never  knew  the  highest,  purest  form  of 
love,  could  sing  : — 

"  I  do  not  envy  yon,  ye  joyless  stars, 
Though  fair  ye  be,  and  glorious  to  the  sight — 
No !  for  ye  love  not,  nor  have  ever  loved  ! " 

But  this  love  of  Christ,  transforming  and  constrain- 
ing, makes  the  soul  master  of  the  universe  as  its  Fa- 
ther's house; — "all  are  yours,  and  ye  are* Christ's,  and 
Christ  is  God's."  This  intimate  adaptation  of  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  soul,  and  this  wondrous  power  of  renovation 
unto  life  and  peace,  give  to  preaching  its  preeminence. 
With  these  we  meet  alike  all  classes,  ages,  and  condi- 
tions. The  aged  apostle  who  had  seen  Christ's  glory 
outshining  the  sun,  who  had  been  caught  up  into  the 
third  heaven,  and  had  heard  unutterable  things ;  to 
whom  it  was  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  God, — 
when  in  prison  expecting  a  cruel  death,  could  say  no 
more  than  this:  "Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief.  I  know  whom  I 
have  believed.  He  is  faithful  that  promised."  And 
the  poor  dying  boy  who  had  just  heard  of  Jesus  at 
the  Sabbath-school,  called  his  mother  to  the  bedside, 
and  asked  her  to  read  the  Saviour's  promise, — "  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  to  me,"  and  then  bade  her  lay 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  89 

the  open  Bible  on  the  bed  that  lie  might  put  his  finger 
on  the  promise  ;  for,  said  he,  "  Jesus  up  in  the  sky 
might  not  notice  little  James  when  he  dies,  but  if  I 
keep  my  finger  on  the  promise,  he  will  see  it  and  come 
and  take  me."  0  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God! 
In  comparison  with  this  all  else  is  nothing.  This 
comes  to  the  soul,  to  every  soul,  the  greatest  and  the 
humblest,  with  most  intimate  adaptation,  with  most 
comprehensive  control.  We  can  dispense  with  ordi- 
nances, and  ritual,  and  art  ;  we  can  dispense  with 
philosophy  and  rhetoric  and  all  the  wisdom  of  words, 
if  we  can  but  preach  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified. 

(2.)  But  in  order  to  realize  this  power  of  the  Gos- 
pel, we  must  keep  ever  before  us  the  one  great  fact  of 
the  Gospel,  JRedemption  ilirougli  the  Cross  of  Christ  a-9 
the  atoning  sacrifice  for  sin.  The  morality  of  the  Gos- 
pel, pure  and  simple  as  that  is,  will  never  alone  regen- 
erate the  world.  Though  Christ  himself  should  preacli 
the  morality  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  men  would 
still  live  and  die  in  sin.  They  must  be  regenerated 
tinto  that  morality  by  a  deeper  motive-power  than  pre- 
cept or  example  can  furnish.  The  ethical  and  theo- 
logical doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  crystallized  into  per- 
manent dogmatic  forms  and  systematized  as  a  creed, 
sublime  as  those  doctrines  are,  and  worthy  of  the  great 
argument  of  Michael  the  Archangel  to  Adam,  in  the 
Paradise  Lost^  yet  would  no  more  lift  the  race  out  of 
the  depths  of  its  depravity,  than  a  disquisition  upon 
planetary  attraction  would  lift  the  tides  without  the 
felt  attraction  of  the  moon.  And  therefore  it  was  that 
Paul,  dialectician  though  he  was,  but  of  a  school  greater 
than  Aristotle,  rhetorician  though  he  was,  but  of  a 
model  higher  than  the  Greek  Sophists,  in  writing  to 
the  Corinthians,  who  delighted  in  the  graces  of  style 
7 


00  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

and  the  niceties  of  speculative  philosophy,  said  of  his 
own  teaching,  "I  came  not  to  you  with  excellency  of 
speech  or  of  wisdom,  declaring  unto  you  the  testimony 
of  God.  For  I  determined  not  to  know  any  thing 
among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified." 
There  is  a  place  for  philosophy  in  the  Christian  system 
— for  what  theme  of  philosophy  is  so  vast  and  pro- 
found as  that  which  angels  desire  to  look  into?  There 
is  a  use  for  rhetoric  in  preaching,  where  emphatically 
a  word  fitly  spoken  is  "like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures 
of  silver.''  But  when  the  sermon  assumes  the  form  of 
philosophical  disquisition  or  of  rhetorical  address,  to 
such  a  degree  that  its  philosophy  or  its  rhetoric  is  the 
thing  noticed  and  remembered,  then  is  it  but  sounding 
brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal.  Wherefore  the  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  should  not  seek  after  the  wisdom  of 
words,  "lest  the  Cross  of  Christ  should  be  made  of 
none  effect.  For  the  preaching  of  the  Cross  is  to 
them  that  perish,  foolishness ;  but  to  us  which  are 
saved,  it  is  the  power  of  God." 

The  power  of  the  Gospel  lies  in  the  cross.  Three 
elements  combine  to  give  to  the  cross  of  Christ  a  power 
over  the  human  soul  which  nothing  in  Nature  or  Art, 
in  Philosophy  or  History,  nothing  within  the  plane  ot 
our  common  Humanity  can  approach  unto ; — it  ex- 
hibits-a  suffering  altogether  peculiar  and  transcendent 
in  its  nature ;  a  suffering  exinatory  for  human  guilt, 
and  compensatory  under  the  government  of  God  ;  a 
suffering  expressive  of  divine  sympatliy  for  human  looe. 
Take  away  either  element,  and  it  is  no  longer  the  cross; 
take  away  the  cross,  and  we  no  longer  have  a  gospel 
or  a  Christ. 

As  we  contemplate  the  cross  of  Christ,  it  is  not 
suffering  alone  that  moves  us,  nor  yet  the  innocence 


THE    GRAND    FUNCTI  jN    OF    THE    MINISTER.  91 

and  patience  of  the  sufferer.  Its  mysterious  power  lies 
in  the  w finite  dicjnity  a7id  icortli  of  that  sufferer,  and  in 
the  impenetrable  anguish  of  his  sinless  soul.  The  high- 
est elements  of  human  heroism  and  suffering  cannot 
renew  and  repeat  their  own  impression.  We  are 
touched  with  a  reverent  sorrow  as  we  look  upon 
Socrates  in  his  cell  drinking  the  fated  hemlock ;  and 
our  pulses  beat  with  indignation  at  his  accusers.  We 
are  stirred  with  pity  at  the  sight  of  Lear,  haggard,  fren- 
zied, doting  in  love,  yet  battling  with  hate,  "  mad  as 
the  vexed  sea,"  raging  in  the  wild  magnificence  of  his 
woe.  But  how  many  times,  think  you,  could  fne  most 
pathetic  orator  move  you  with  the  death-scene  of  Soc- 
rates ?  For  how  many  nights  could  Garrick  impress 
you  by  personating  Lear?  But  the  cross  of  Christ 
renews  and  augments  its  own  impression,  above  all 
power  of  human  language.  Now  and  then  a  painter 
transfers  to  canvas  his  conception  of  some  merely  hu- 
man tragedy,  and  tliis  awakens  the  passing  interest 
and  criticism  of  lovers  of  art.  The  subject,  once 
treated,  hardly  bears  repetition.  But  the  greatest 
masters  of  every  school,  in  every  age,  have  sought  to 
represent  on  canvas  that  peerless  head  crowned  with 
thorns;  and  yet  no  pencil  has  given  expression  to  "the 
man  of  sorrows  acquainted  with  grief"  The  heart  is 
not  satisfied,  the  task  is  not  accomplished.  You  walk 
the  galleries  of  Europe,  and  pause  successively  before 
the  famed  heads  of  Christ  by  the  masters ;  but  this  is 
too  effeminate,  that  too  sorrowful;  this  too  earthly, 
that  too  spiritual  for  a  proper  sympathy ;  in  this  the 
thorns  predominate,  in  that  the  glory ;  and  so  you  say 
continually,  "  This  is  not  my  Saviour."  For  our  own 
nature,  having  sounded  the  deeps  of  all  human  sor 
row,  and  measured  the  height  of  all  human  heroism, 


92  PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

teaches  that  here  there  is  both  a  divinity  in  the  sufferer 
and  a  reach  of  suffering  boundless  as  eternity.  It  was 
fitting  that  to  symbolize  and  to  honor  that  suffering, 
the  two  extremes  of  Time  should  meet;  that  the  old 
Chaos  should  return  with  earthquake  and  darkness,  and 
that  this  should  be  confronted  by  the  Resurrection  unto 
Life,  both  meeting  at  his  cross. 

But  tlie  tragic  element  in  the  Crucifixion  will  not 
alone  explain  the  power  of  the  cross.  An  expiation 
for  guilt,  a  compensation  to  offended  law,  "  that  God 
might  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth," 
this  stirs  our  souls  to  a  yet  deeper  depth.  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world."  Atheism  scoffs,  but  will  not  suffer,  even  to  re- 
deem. Divine  love  suffers  for  the  guilty — for  its  ene- 
mies. Where  all  else  had  fiiiled,  and  forever  must  fail, 
Christ  accomplishes  all.  As  the  soul  gazes  upon  his 
cross,  it  cries,  "  This  agony  is  vast  as  hell ;  this  my  sins 
deserve;  this  my  guilt  demands;  this  my  faith  accepts 
as  its  prevailing  sacrifice." 

"The  sea  of  ill,  for  whicli  the  universe 
With  all  its  piled  space,  can  find  no  shore, 
With  all  its  life,  no  living  foot  to  tread  ! 
But  He  accomplished  in  Jehovah  being, 

Sustains  the  gaze  adown, 

Conceives  the  vast  despair, 
And  feels  the  billowy  griefs  come  up  to  drown, 
Nor  fears,  nor  faints,  nor  fails,  till  all  be  finished.'' 

And  here  comes  in  the  third  element  of  power  in 
the  cross — a  divine  sympathy  loitli  human  luoe.  It  is 
not  wrath  that  erects  the  cross,  but  love.  Not  bloody 
vengeance  demanding  a  victim,  but  love  offering  a 
sacrifice  And  this  love  expresses  itself  in  human  form, 
and  Avith  all  true  human  sympathies,  exalted  and  inten- 
sified by  union  with  the  divine.     Guilt  would  fain  take 


THE    GRAND    FUNXTION    OF    THE    MINISTER.  93 

refuge  in  Atheism,  to  shield  it  from  despair.  But  there 
is  no  relief  for  guilt  by  going  away  from  God  ;  it  is 
only  by  coming  to  God  that  peace  is  gained.  "  God  is 
in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself"  Sympa- 
thetic sorrow,  the  agony  that  yearns  until  it  saves,  is 
begotten  not  of  negation  and  unbelief,  but  of  the  vital 
forces  of  love. 

In  thus  addressing  us  through  sympathy  the  cross 
embodies  a  power,  which,  while  too  subtle  for  analysis, 
is  world-wide  and  perpetual.  The  father  of  Milton 
composed  a  sacred  tune  "  which  is  yet  sung  all  over 
England  in  the  nursery,  as  a  lullaby :  and  the*chimes 
of  country  churches,  from  time  immemorial,  have 
played  it  six  or  eight  times  in  four  and  twenty  hours. 
And  so,  apart  from  all  that  he  has  given  us  through  his 
son,  there  yet  rests  in  the  air  of  Britain,  capable  of  being 
set  loose  wherever  church-bells  send  their  chimes  over 
English  earth,  or  voices  are  raised  in  sacred  concert 
round  an  English  or  S  sottish  fireside,  some  portion  of 
the  soul  of  that  admirable  man,  and  his  love  of  sweet 
sounds."^' 

But  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  that  sympathetic 
song  of  angels — Peace  on  earth,  good-will  to  men — 
that  first  touched  the  simple  hearts  of  shepherds,  has 
lingered  in  the  air  to  be  evoked  by  every  Christian 
mother's  hymn,  by  every  church-bell  chime,  and  to- 
day, after  the  lapse  of  eighteen  centuries,  as  we  keep 
in  this  new  sanctuary  the  festal  day  on  which  Jesus 
rose  from  the  dead,  the  Master  stands  in  the  midst  of 
us,  as  amid  the  amazed  disciples  in  the  upper  chamber, 
and  showing  in  his  hands  and  feet  and  side  the  marks 
of  his  great  agony,  breathes  on  us  his  divine  and  eter- 
nal peace.  The  Gospel  enfolds  us  with  all  human  sj^m- 
pathies  energized  by  divine  love.     With  such  elements 

*  Masson's  Life  of  Milton.     The  tune  is  "  Yorli." 


94  PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

of  power  how  can  we  fail  to  put  the  Gospel  foremost  in 
all  plans  and  labors  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  ?  With 
such  a  power  committed  to  his  trust,  the  preacher 
should  ever  say  with  Paul,  "  Christ  sent  me  not  to  bap- 
tize, but  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  not  with  wisdom  of  words, 
lest  the  cross  of  Christ  should  be  made  of  none  effect." 

From  the  many  inferences  suggested  by  the  sub- 
ject, I  select  but  two : — 

1.  The  true  and  permanent  reformation  of  so- 
ciety can  he  accomplished  only  through  the  Gospel 
of  Christy  faithfidly  proclaimed.  The  world  wak- 
ing to*  a  new  consciousness  of  its  sorrows  and  its 
sins,  cries  out  everywhere  for  reform.  The  minister  of 
Christ  should  be  the  first  to  hear  and  answer  that  cry;  the 
first  to  see,  the  first  to  feel,  the  first  to  move  against 
all  forms  of  moral  evil  in  the  world.  He  should  take 
the  lead  in  every  wise  and  beneficent  reform,  under 
the  broad  commission  of  Him  "  who  came  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  poor,  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  and 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives."  Fain  would  I 
reproduce  that  Gospel  in  this  synagogue.  When  two 
years  ago  I  addressed  my  own  flock  for  the  last  time 
in  the  Old  Tabernacle,  I  said,  "I  trust  never  to  meet 
this  church  in  a  so-called  house  of  God,  where  no 
place  is  found  for  the  poor,  and  no  prayer  is  heard  for 
the  slave."  May  I  never  be  so  false  to  the  Master  as 
to  mutilate  and  suppress  his  Gospel,  in  that  sympathy 
for  the  poor,  the  outcast,  the  afflicted,  the  oppressed, 
which  He  proclaimed  in  his  first  sermon  at  Nazareth. 
May  this  church  never  prove  so  false  to  Him  who  hath 
redeemed  them  with  his  blood,  as  to  deny  his  Gospel 
to  the  poor,  and  his  sympathy  for  the  captive.  Ere 
that  day  should  come,  may  the  light  of  this  pulpit  be 
extinguished,  and  these  arches  crumble  into  ruin. 

We  accept  the  Gospel  as  Christ  has  given  it,  the 


THE    GHAND    FUNCTION    OF    THE   MINISTER.  95 

means  and  the  pledge  of  all  reform.  Do  you  show  me 
the  burdens  of  society?  I  know  that  even  amid  our 
boasted  civilization  these  are  manifold  and  grievous,  but 
the  cross  can  bear  and  relieve  them  all.  Do  you  point 
me  to  war,  reviving  its  horrors?  What  diplomacy  can- 
not avert,  nor  commerce  hinder,  the  Gospel  of  peace 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  shall  do  away  for  evei\  Do 
you  point  me  to  poverty  with  the  wrongs  that  it  suf- 
fers and  the  vices  it  encourages  ?  The  Gospel  applied 
with  the  liberality  and  the  fidelity  of  love,  shall  re- 
move those  vices  and  redress  those  wrongs.  ,Do  you 
point  me  to  slavery,  which  upon  thi^  soil,  consecrated 
by  the  martyrs  of  freedom,  would  perpetuate  a  bar- 
barism worse  than  that  which  cursed  the  soil  of  Rome, 
and  destroyed  its  empire  ?  I  answer  still,  meet  this 
with  the  Gospel.  Philosophy,  Humanity,  Political 
Economy,  these  are  not  pure  enough  nor  strong 
enough,  to  cope  with  that  iniquity.  This  kind  of  de- 
mon which  "foameth  and  gnasheth  with  its  teeth,"  can 
come  forth  "by  nothing  but  by  prayer  and  fasting;" 
and  even  then  may  sorely  rend  the  body  it  has  pos- 
sessed. But  after  all  the  disciples  and  doctors  have 
failed,  the  word  of  Christ  can  cast  it  out.  But  it  must 
be  the  whole  pure  Gospel,  undisguised  by  the  philoso- 
phy and  rhetoric  of  men,  unmutilated  by  the  temporal 
policy  or  the  selfish  desires  of  men.  Not  a  Gospel  pre- 
pared to  suit  a  market  where  husbands,  and  wives, 
and  fathers,  and  mothers,  and  children  are  sold  as 
chattels :  but  the  Gospel  that  teaches  you  that  Christ 
died  for  every  man,  and,  therefore,  that  to  make  mer- 
chandise of  a  man  whom  Christ  hath  redeemed,  and  to 
keep  from  him  the  Bible,  is  to  sin  against  Christ; — the 
Gospel  that  teaches  you  to  sympathize  with  and  suffer 
for  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  wronged,  the  oppressed, 
and  warns  you  that  if  you  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ, 


96  PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL 

you  are  none  of  His.  Yes,  let  us  preach  the  Gospel 
against  slavery,  till  there  shall  not  be  found  in  all  the 
land  one  claiming  the  name  of  Christian  who  will  pre- 
sume to  defend  it.  Let  us  use  the  Gospel  as  the  pledge 
and  the  power  of  all  reform. 

2.    Our   sole  reliance  for  ])ersonal  salvation  must 
he   upon  the  Gospel  of  Christ.     If  the  minister  must 
ever  keep   the   Gospel   before  ordinances,  before  rit- 
uals, before   philosophy,  before   all    the  wisdom    and 
power  of  man,  it  is  because  "  Christ  crucified  is  the 
power   of  God,   and  the  wisdom  of   God,"  and   "it 
hath   pleased    God   by  the    foolishness   of  preaching 
to  save  them  that  believe."     If  to  be  faithful  to  our 
trust,  we  who  preach  must  "  determine  not  to  know 
any  thing  among  you,  save  Jesus   Christ  and   him  cru- 
cified," it  is  because  "there  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
We  must  be  faithful  to  Christ  that  we  may  be  service- 
able  to  you.     For  "  God,  who  has  reconciled  us  to 
Himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  hath  given  us  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation,  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the 
world  to  himself.     Now,  therefore,  we  are  ambassadors 
for  Christ,  as  though  we  in  Christ's  stead  beseech  3'ou, 
Be  ye  reconciled  to  God."     To  some  of  you,  I  have 
preached  this  Gospel   for   many  years,  and   yet   this 
high   festal  day  of    the  Church  finds    you    unrecon- 
ciled to  God.     My  friends,  I  have  no  other  message, 
no  higher  motive,  nor  larger  plea  than  this:   "Be  re- 
conciled to  God  thrSugh  his  Son."     To  some  I  speak 
for  the  first,  to  others  for  the  last  time ; — yet  for  both 
I  have  only  this  one  message:  "  Be  reconciled  to  God." 
Receive  Christ  crucified,  and  this  Gospel  shall  be  to  you 
the  power  of  God.     Forsake  this  Gospel  for  your  own 
philosophy,  morality,  or  ritual,  neglect    it    for   your 
worldly  gains,  and  you  must  perish  in  your  sins. 


1 

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